Brown Heron
The Brown Heron is one of Syd Glasso's Pacific Northwest steelhead patterns, developed as part of his mid-twentieth-century adaptation of traditional Scottish Spey flies for North American rivers. Its fluorescent orange body, silver rib, long gray hackle, teal throat, and low bronze mallard wing form a flowing attractor rather than an exact imitation of a particular food organism. It is typically swung across and downstream for steelhead, allowing the long hackle and mallard wing to move in the current, and it can also be used for salmon. The principal tying considerations are producing a smooth floss body, keeping the long hackle sparse and free-moving, and mounting the bronze mallard slips low and evenly without splitting the wing.
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Recipe
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Hook · standard salmon streamer hook sizes 1/0 - 2
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Thread · red or scarlet tying thread
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Tag · flat silver tinsel
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Rib · oval silver tinsel
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Throat · teal flank
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Wing · paired bronze mallard shoulder slips
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Rear body · fluorescent orange floss
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Front body · fluorescent orange goat dubbing, orange seal substitute, Antron, or ram's wool
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Body hackle · long-fibered gray Spey hackle; blue-eared pheasant, ring-necked pheasant rump, schlappen, or another legal heron substitute may be used
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Head · red tying thread
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Finish · clear varnish or head cement
Tying Instructions
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1
Secure the hook in the vise, start the red thread behind the eye, and lay a smooth thread foundation rearward to the tag position.
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2
Tie in the flat silver tinsel and wrap a short, even tag near the bend. Secure the tinsel and trim the excess.
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3
Tie in the oval silver rib at the rear of the body and leave it extending behind the hook.
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4
Prepare a long-fibered gray Spey hackle, strip excess fibers from the base, and tie it in by the tip at the rear of the body.
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5
Tie in the fluorescent orange floss and wrap a smooth rear body covering approximately two-thirds of the body length.
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6
Apply fluorescent orange dubbing to the thread and form the front one-third of the body, keeping the transition from floss to dubbing neat and gradual.
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7
Palmer the gray Spey hackle forward in open turns, stroking the long fibers rearward after each wrap.
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8
Counter-wrap the oval silver tinsel forward through the hackle to reinforce the feather and create an evenly spaced rib. Secure and trim both materials.
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9
Prepare teal flank fibers and tie them beneath the hook as a sparse beard-style throat extending rearward along the body.
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10
Prepare matching slips of bronze mallard shoulder and mount them as a low, tented Spey wing over the body.
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11
Secure the wing with controlled thread pressure, trim the material butts, and form a small, neat red head.
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12
Whip finish and apply clear varnish or head cement.