Bloody Butcher

Bloody Butcher

Hook - Mustad 9672, #4-6

Tying Thread - Black Nymo - Size "A"

Tail - Scarlet & Yellow Hackle Fibers

Body - Peacock Herl

Hackle - Scarlet & Yellow Saddles, Palmered

Rib - Fine Gold Wire

Wing - Gray Squirrel

Head - Peacock or Ostrich Herl, Full

Tying Note

The scarlet and yellow body hackles should be "doubled" or "blended" together prior to tying in by the tips at the tail end of the fly, and then wound on as a single hackle, wet-fly style, over the peacock herl body.

The process of doubling, setting, or bending a hackle, as it is variously described, is quite easily accomplished by putting a hackle plier over an upright post and then catching the hackle tip or tips in the hackle plier jaws, which leaves both hands free. The butt end of the quill is held with the right hand and the hackle fibers are folded over from the butt to tip with the left hand.

                                                        Montana Trout Flies - George F. Grant

Bloody Butcher

Tail - Crimson red hackle barbs. 

Body - Dubbed with gray rabbit fur. 

Hackle - Yellow and crimson red mixed and tied palmer-style over the body. 

Wing - Gray squirrel tail tied over the body. 

The Bloody Butcher originated as a wet fly in England in 1838 and you might say that it has been butchered ever since. This is a steelhead version that has been in use for more than fifty years.

 Fish Flies: The Encyclopedia of the Fly Tier's Art - Terry Hellekson