The Dusty Miller Tube

The Dusty Miller Tube

In the middle of the 90ths I was tying classic salmon flies with feather wings but because lack of time and difficulties to get good materials I quit tying them but I have never stop reading abouth them and converting many of the not so usual pattern into new modern flies with hair or zonker wings. Many of the old classic patterns you still see in new hair winged shapes all around the world as the Thunder and Lightning and the Doctor series just to name a few but theres so many pattern from the old days that works great with new material and hair wings like the Dusty Miller. The original Dusty Miller pattern was created in the early years of 1800 and it have been write in abouth in many old books abouth salmon flies. I realy like the colours of this fly so I started to create a modern version and was looking at many old pattern recipe but I fell for Mr Pryce-Tannatts pattern recipe because it had a Golde Olive body hackle and I tought that the colours used in his wing would be great to convert to a hair wing. When I tie my Classic tubes I try to make the body similar to the original but I change much of the material so the pattern gets a more modern touch. Some times I leave out thing like the Golden Pheasant Topping in the tail and other small special material just to get a cleaner look to the fly. And to get the right look on the body I use Eumer Medium Black Tubing then I get the right size on the body and also all of the old patterns made on black hooks so Black tubing looks best i think.

Pattern Recipe: 

Tube: Black Eumer Medium/small combi

Tag: Oval Silver Tinsel. Golden Yellow Floss Silk

Butt: Black Ostrich Herl

Ribb: Twisted Mini Flat Braid Silver

Body: 2/3 Mini Flat Braid Silver. 1/3 Orange Dubbing

Hackle: Golden Olive Soft Hackle tied in after the Yellow  Hair. Front: First a Grizzly Soft Hackle as a collar. Finish off with a Natrual Guinea Fowl Hackle.

Wing:  Brown Fox Hair. 2 strands of GlissN’Glow Silver.  Yellow Fox Hair. Gold Wing N Flash. Red Fox Hair. 2 strands of Orange Mirage Flash. Orange Fox Hair. Orange Wing N Flash.  Fiery Brown Fox Hair.

Cheeks: JC (optional)

Topping: 3 Peacook Herls bleech and dyed Sunburst Yellow.

Head: Black Eumer Cone

The body with a Golden Olive Soft Hackle

So why not try a Dusty Miller for this season and maybe you get a new but old favorite!