Black Mallard Spey

Black Mallard Spey Feathers

Black catches fish. Always has. When the light goes flat, the water goes dark or the fish have seen every pink thing on the river, a black spey fly throws the hardest silhouette in the box.

This pack is 12 jumbo black mallard spey feathers, picked one at a time for steelhead and salmon tiers. Long fibers, clean tips, barring that still shows through the dye. Tent them as a wing on a classic spey, wrap them as a collar on a swing fly, or pull a few fibers for a throat on a low-water hook. They lie down when you swing and open back up when you hang it, which is exactly what you want.

No short feathers. No broken tips. No filler.

Recipe 1: Undertaker Spey

• Hook: Size 2 to 6 Alec Jackson spey or up-eye salmon hook, black
• Thread: Black 8/0
• Tag: Fine oval gold tinsel, then fluorescent green floss followed by fluorescent orange floss
• Body: Black floss
• Rib: Medium oval gold tinsel
• Collar: Black Mallard Spey, wound two to three turns, fibers swept back
• Wing: Two matched strips of Black Mallard Spey, tented low over the body
• Head: Black, small and neat

How to fish it: This is the dawn and dusk fly. Fish it on a floating line with a 10-foot polyleader in summer, or a light sink tip once the water drops below about 45 degrees. Cast at 45 degrees downstream, throw one upstream mend and let it come around slow. When the line straightens below you, hang it there for a count of five before you strip in. Plenty of eats come on the hang.

Recipe 2: Black & Blue Low-Water Spey

• Hook: Size 4 to 8 low-water salmon hook, black
• Thread: Black 8/0
• Tag: Flat silver tinsel
• Body: Rear third flat silver tinsel, front two-thirds black seal or SLF dubbing
• Rib: Fine oval silver tinsel
• Hackle: Black Mallard Spey wound through the dubbed section
• Throat: Kingfisher Blue Mallard Spey, a few fibers
• Wing: Black Mallard Spey strips, set low

How to fish it: Black and blue is the go-to for clear, cold water under a grey sky. Fish it on a sink tip that gets it just under the surface in riffles and tailouts. Swing it across the slot at walking speed. If the fly is racing, mend more. If fish are short-striking, drop a hook size.