Green Mallard Spey

Green Mallard Spey Feathers

Green is the color of the Green Highlander, the Atlantic salmon fly every tier wants to say they’ve tied. It’s also the color of a caddis pupa rising off the bottom on a September evening. One pack covers both.

Twelve jumbo green mallard spey feathers, hand-picked for steelhead and salmon tiers and anybody swinging soft hackles on a two-hander for trout. Use them for wings and throats on classic-inspired spey flies, or wrap a single feather as the collar on a swing soft hackle.

Rich color, natural barring, long fibers. Every feather in the bag gets used.

Recipe 1: Green Highlander Spey (simplified)

• Hook: Size 2 to 6 spey or up-eye salmon hook
• Thread: Black 8/0
• Tag: Oval silver tinsel and yellow floss
• Tail: Golden pheasant crest
• Body: Rear quarter yellow floss, front three-quarters green SLF or seal dubbing
• Rib: Oval silver tinsel
• Hackle: Green schlappen over the dubbed section
• Throat: Yellow hackle fibers
• Wing: Strips of Green Mallard Spey, with a few fibers of Yellow Mallard Spey married or laid on top
• Head: Black

How to fish it:

A bright-day fly for Atlantic salmon and summer steelhead. Fish it on a floating line or intermediate tip with a 9 to 12 foot leader. Swing it through the head of the pool and the upper tailout. Salmon often follow and turn away; change the angle of your cast before you change the fly.

Recipe 2: Green Caddis Swing Soft Hackle

• Hook: Size 8 to 12 wet fly or nymph hook
• Thread: Brown 8/0
• Body: Bright green Antron or caddis-green dubbing, thin
• Rib: Fine copper wire
• Thorax: Brown hare’s ear dubbing
• Hackle: Green Mallard Spey, one to two turns, sparse

How to fish it: This is a trout spey and Euro-swing fly for caddis season. Fish it on a light trout spey line or a single-hand rod with a floating line. Cast across, let it sink a few seconds, then swing it up through the water column like a rising pupa. Keep a little slack in your hand; trout hit swinging soft hackles hard, and a tight line pops tippet.