General Practitioner
The General Practitioner, commonly called the GP, is a classic shrimp imitation created by English salmon angler Colonel Esmond Drury in 1953. Originally developed for Atlantic salmon, it later became highly popular for steelhead in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia. The fly is normally fished on a controlled swing across and downstream, although it can also be stripped or allowed to pulse through deeper pools. General Practitioners are tied in several sizes and color variations, with orange versions among the most traditional and black patterns popular for winter steelhead. The layered hackles and feelers create excellent movement, but keeping the fly properly proportioned without making it excessively bulky is the main challenge when tying it.
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Recipe
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Hook · standard salmon wet streamer sizes 3/0 - 2
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Thread · Fluorescent Orange 6/0
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Tail · Fluorescent orange bucktail mixed with golden pheasant and rootbeer crystal flash
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Body · hot orange seal fur
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Rib · oval gold tinsel
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Hackle · hot orange palmered from tail
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Wings · in layers - lower: gold pheasant breast, and tippet cut in V to shape eyes, upper: two gold pheasant breast feathers