Samuel McKale

Fly: Marshall Porterfield, Photograph: Hans Weilenmann

Hook: Dry fly hook sized to match bead head
Thread: Unithread 6/0, Brown
Head: Plastic bead head gold bead 3mm for #12 hook
Tail: Stacked deer hair
Body hackle: Brown
Body: Rainbow poly craft yarn (Red to orange transition strip)
Wing: Stacked deer hair, butts over wrapped with poly yarn thorax
Hackle: Grizzly
Notes and fishing instructions:
This was the first in the line of bead head dry flies that I started tying, and is named for the world’s number 1 fishing buddy. Considering the trout attracting power of bead head nymphs, I thought why not bring some flash to surface patterns. The bead emulates the light focused by the surface tension dimples created by the insect’s feet on the water surface. Plastic beads are light and can be supported by most standard floatation techniques. The beads can be purchased in a craft store, but don’t come counter drilled, so you may need to do this yourself. My experience has been that these bead head dry flies work on the dead drift or skated across the surface. In some of our central Missouri trout streams the fish are notoriously finicky about rising to a dry fly, but not for Samuel McKale. I have had great success using the fly as a searching pattern or to bust through on trout feeding selectively on hatches.


Back to Thumbnails

© 2003 Hans Weilenmann
Please don't copy/distribute the contents of this page without my explicit permission.