"Picket Pins, with bodies of red, yellow, silver and gold, are
the names given to hair flies made by Jack Boehme, of Missoula,
Montana.
Jack has been tying flies for western waters since 1915.
Picket Pins are Jack's own patterns. They are dressed from the tails
of ground squirrels. The cowboys gave the ground squirrel the name
of picket pin as the animal, when sitting upright on the prairie,
looks like a picket pin used to picket out their horses. They are
a favorite hair fly in the Northwest.
Jack Boehme also has tied flies for use in the Madison River, known
throughout the angling world as a producer of record rainbows. One of
those is his namesake, 'Boehme's Fancy."
The 'Big Trout'and 'Cutthroat' are also his creations for use in the
Rogue and Klamath Rivers."
Publisher's Note: Ground squirrels are actually Richardson
Ground Squirrels which in most of the west are commonly called gophers,
similar to prairie dogs.
The pattern shown is described in Forgotten Flies as:
- Tag: Fine gold tinsel (optional) Black.
- Tail: Two tips of brown hackle or brown hackle fibers.
- Body: Peacock herl.
- Rib: Fine oval gold tinsel, or gold wire in
smallers sizes counter-wrapped to reinforce the palmered body hackle.
- Wing: Gray squirrel tail.
- Head: Peacock herl over black thread.
Notes: While recognized primarily as a wet fly, the Picket Pin
is also very effective when tied in larger sizes and fished as
a streamer.
Quoted section from Fly Patterns and Their Origins, by Harold
Hinsdill Smedley, published by Westshore Publications.
Color photo and recipe from Forgotten Flies.
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