No.62

[Updtate]

From North Country Flies By T. E. Pritt the Black Snipe.

Hook. Daiichi 1480 size 14.
Silk. Black.
Body. Peacock .
Hackle. Jack Snipe.

P_20201205_125256.jpg (101.1 KiB) Viewed 3265 times

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Nice, Tom. Leggy little beastie, isn't it. Looks like a lot of bugs, but nothing specific. Have to dig through my stuff to find my snipe now. That will catch for sure.

[joaniebo]

Funny, I just tied a couple of these yesterday. Problem is that my supply of Snipe undercovert hackles were pretty much used up in the past few years and my hackles aren't as neat as I'd like them to be. They'll probably still catch fish but aren't worth pics.

[letumgo]

I've pretty much stopped using my black silk, due to thread breakage problems. This is the one color (black), where I've switched back to regular modern thread. Do you guys think silk makes any difference? I'm not sure that translucency would still be a factor, when working with black Pearsall's.

Nice clean dressing, btw. Fish are going to go out of their way to destroy it!

[DUBBN]

Do you guys think silk makes any difference?

Short answer, no. I do not believe silk makes any difference at all.

I know it is an unpopular opinion, but it is what I believe.

Excellent looking pattern!!!

[joaniebo]

Ray

I'm with you in that I most often use black synthetic threads in tying most flies calling for black threads.. But, I do have a couple spools of black YLI100 silk that are used occasionally. If the fly hook is small or I want to use the black thread to reinforce a herl body, then I definitely use synthetic black threads.

Bob

[Ron Eagle Elk]

On this fly I don't think silk would matter all that much. In the instances where an old recipe calls for black silk, I wax brown silk very heavily with dark cobbler's wax. About the only time I use black silk is as a rib.

[Updtate]

I used black Pearsalls on this fly because of tradition. I guess my spool is ok as I have had no trouble with breakage. I guess that Pritt did not think the silk colour on this pattern important as he does not even list silk in the pattern recipe.

Tom

[chugbug]

Please pardon my ignorance... What's the downside of black silk?

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Please pardon my ignorance... What's the downside of black silk?

It's my understanding that to get a true, rich black, there are several processes and dye baths involved. All of that processing tends to weaken the silk, resulting in breakage when used.