From Favorite Flies and Their Histories:
In our quotation from Mr. Wells's book regarding
his experiments with artificial flies viewed through
the water in a glass tank is explained the peculiar
power possessed by the feathers of the golden pheasant
of reflecting the light, making them visible beyond
all other materials used in fly-making. While airy
and graceful, they are also of hard surface, and do
not become matted, nor readily absorb the water. Mr.
George Herne, of Hertfordshire, England, has made a
specialty of breeding golden pheasants to furnish
feathers for fly-making, and the feathers from his
birds are far superior to those of any other that
we know; the crest feathers deepening to the dark,
beautiful orange, almost blood-red tips that so
greatly enhance the perfection of the salmon flies;
the markings on the neck feathers or frills are
also deeper and more distinct. Different makers
vary in their dressing of the bodies of the Golden
Pheasant flies, but that shown seems to us to be
in the best harmony, and is, we think, the best
known, and most used for salmon, large trout, bass
and sea trout.
Recipe Golden Pheasant:
Tail: Sparse black hackle.
Body: Vermillion floss.
Rib: Fine oval gold tinsel.
Wing: Golden pheasant tippet.
Hackle: Three turns of vermillion hackle
palmered on body, the rest as throat.
~ EA
Credits: Text from Favorite Flies and
Their Histories by Mary Orvis Marbury.
Fly and photo by Eric Austin.
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