Grayling Witch

[nfrechet]

Grayling Witch

Hook - Standard wet/nymph style
Thread - Black
Tail - Red wool yarn or antron yarn (pictured)
Body - Peacock herl, reinforced
Hackle - Dun hen or rooster

[daringduffer]

This is a fine fly. Roger Woolley, the originator, also included a rib of flat silver. Sometimes this more muted version might be successful. You pick very good patterns.

When I just checked his 'Modern Trout Fly Dressing' I found that he tied Rolt's Witch with peacock herl. Rolt himself tied it with peacock sword. If he can do this, and get away with it, you can omit the silver tinsel. But both of you have tied a variant. You are in good company .

dd

[joaniebo]

Looks like one of Rob Smith's flies

https://www.northcountryflies.com/produ ... wet-flies/

[nfrechet]

update



Hook - Standard wet/nymph style
Thread - Black
Tail - Red wool yarn
Ribbing - Flat silver tinsel
Body - Peacock herl
Hackle - Dun

the photos i found online had no rib or was so buried in the peacock herl you couldnt see it

some sites call for a floss tail others say yarn. another site looked like hackle fibers. some show a silver wire rib. or is it gold? whats actually right?

i should have done better research

i toss the first one to the bluegills. they really wont care

[daringduffer]

Now you are talking! Excellent fly. Roger Woolley used red floss. For a very long time either floss or yarn have been used for those 'fancy flies'. And feather fibres too. RW doesn't mention colour of tying silk.

dd

Edit. RW suggests 'flat silver'.

[Greenwell]

The Grayling Witch is just a version of the venerable Red Tag, a fly that I used a lot when I was a kid. It was easy to tie and the materials were not hard to get and the trout liked it. I dressed it with both a brown and a grizzly hackle; both were very effective on my local trout.

In T.E. Pritt's Book of the Grayling he pictures the Red tag and calls for a tag of red wool or "scrap of Macaw's feather or one from the Indian crow."

Pritt also gives a pattern for the Crimson Tag:
Wings: Hackled with a bronze-y feather from a Golden Plover's breast in full plumage.
Body: Dressed rather full with bright green peacock's herl.
Tag: Crimson wool. (Wool is more durable than silk.)

Roger Woolley often tied the Grayling Witch on tiny double hooks, known as "Wee Doubles." I have some dressed by Woolley himself and will try to photograph them soon. The one I can lay my hand on right now doesn't show the silver rib. I think I have others stashed somewhere but will have to root around to find them.