Wright's Royal variation SBS

All about flies Fly Tying
1

Wright’s Royal was originally tied by Phillip Wright, who (among other things) started the Complete Fly Fisher Lodge on the Big Hole River. Original pattern has no tail but I saw Charlie Craven’s version on http://www.flytyingclips.com/ and thought it looked cool so now it’s got a tail and I slapped variation on it’s name. Guess it could also be called a Royal Trude variation (I always tie Trude’s with either calf tail or calf body); whatever.

hook - Dai Riki 320 #12
thread - Uni 8/0 black
tail - golden pheasant tippet
body/ - peacock herl/floss midsection
rib - x-small wire gold
wing - bleached elk
hackle - brown

Part 1

mash barb and attach thread at head (leave a hook eye width to prevent crowding)

tie in wire on underside of hook, tag end on the far side of the bend

wrap wire back to point above hook barb; by keeping the wire on the far side, thread wraps automatically align the wire neatly on the underside of the hook

measure a clump of golden pheasant tippets (shank length, maybe a tiny bit shorter); tie in and trim butts

tie in some peacock herl

twist with tying thread and wrap forward to 33% mark

tie off peacock and trim

tie in floss, stop thread wraps at 66% mark (try to keep it smooth)

wrap floss back to peacock, up to 66% and tie off

counterwrap wire through body and tie off

2

Part 2

take a clump of bleached elk, clean and stack

measure elk (half the tail distance) and tie in

trim elk butts at an angle

create smooth, tapered thorax (helps a lot when hackling)

tie in hackle; with a fairly thick wing tie-in, undersize by 1 (on this #12 hook use a #14 hackle)

tie in some peacock herl

twist herl around tying thread and wrap forward

wrap hackle through peacock, tie off, SHHAN and you’re done

Original version with yearling elk wing (wish I had found it for the first fly)

Regards,
Scott

3

Nice series of photos John! I was wondering about that tail - I couldn’t remember tying one in on the original pattern. I would say, in my experience the rib isn’t necessary either. For a nice variation try substituting the red floss with root beer krystal flash. Good fly - thanks for posting an old favorite of mine.

Moscow

4

The name is Scott, not John; glad you liked it. I included the wire because I was just miming Charlie Craven’s version; doesn’t add any protection to the herl or floss. Rootbeer KF is like peacock herl - there 's just something about the color; love that stuff.

Regards,
Scott

5

Sorry Scott, my bad. :frowning: Love the fly and appreciate the various SBS you’ve been posting.