What Are You Tying Today?

Anytime I need some crow feathers I just take the 20 guage out in the backyard and knock one off. I skin the wings out and cure them. I mainly love the small covert feathers on the shoulders of the crow wing. They are excellent for soft hackles and I use them for one of my most productive carp flies. I haven’t used a lot of the crow quill fibers but I do remember using some of them for a little black stonefly pattern a few years back.

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Do you have any pics of the soft hackles tied with the covert feathers? I'd love to see those.
 
Do you have any pics of the soft hackles tied with the covert feathers? I'd love to see those.
Here is one of my carp flies that I tied using a crow covert feather for the soft hackle collar.

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The Galarneau

Tail - Red hackle
Body - Flat gold tinsel
Wing - Purple calf tail or bucktail
Throat - Yellow calftail
Shoulder - Mallard flank
Collar - Badger hackle

A Hornberg Variation
 
This is one of my favorite native brookie flies. It’s called the Pick Pocket and this one is tied on a size 14 TMC 200R hook. This fly is a version of the Picket Pin and was featured decades ago by Mike O’Brien in an issue of the Mid Atlantic Fly Fishing Guide.

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Would you mind sharing the recipe for this one? Id like to tie some up but can’t find anything on google
 
The-Galarneau-Original-1080.jpg


The Galarneau

Tail - Red hackle
Body - Flat gold tinsel
Wing - Purple calf tail or bucktail
Throat - Yellow calftail
Shoulder - Mallard flank
Collar - Badger hackle

A Hornberg Variation
Easy tie. (Which means it's in my ballpark.) I need to add a few to my box.
Have you fished this much?
 
This is one of my favorite native brookie flies. It’s called the Pick Pocket and this one is tied on a size 14 TMC 200R hook. This fly is a version of the Picket Pin and was featured decades ago by Mike O’Brien in an issue of the Mid Atlantic Fly Fishing Guide.

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Can you post the pattern?
My search results just turn up a salmon fly with a similar name.
 
Can you post the pattern?
My search results just turn up a salmon fly with a similar name.
Here is a photo of the short article where Mike O’Brien shared this pattern (his Pick Pocket) exactly 30 years ago in the April 1995 issue of the Mid Atlantic Fly Fishing Guide magazine. I usually wrap the palmered grizzly hackle from front to back and tie it down with extra small copper ultra wire which makes the body of the fly much more durable when dealing with those native brook trout’s sharp little teeth. I usually tie them in size 12 or 14 for the brookies.

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