Yellow Mallard Flank Feathers

Yellow Mallard Flank Feathers

Yellow with bars on it. Think about that for a second. That’s a yellow perch, and every pike, walleye and smallmouth in the northern half of this country has eaten a few thousand of them. It’s also the Yellow Sally, the little stonefly that saves a lot of slow July afternoons in Montana. One feather, two jobs, both of them catch fish.

What you get: About 60 feathers in a 2 gram bag, mixed sizes. Hand-sorted, no junk.

Recipe 1: Yellow Sally Downwing

• Hook: Standard dry fly, #14–#16
• Thread: Yellow 8/0
• Egg sac: Tiny ball of red dubbing at the bend
• Body: Pale yellow dubbing, slim
• Wing: Yellow mallard flank fibers, tied flat downwing behind eye of the hook
• Hackle: Light ginger or cream, 3 turns, trimmed flat underneath

How to fish it: Sallies hatch in the afternoon and females come back to lay eggs in the evening. Fish it in riffles and along grassy banks with a dead drift. A little twitch now and then can trigger a fish that’s been watching it. Great dropper-carrier for a small nymph, too.

Recipe 2: Barred Perch Streamer

• Hook: 4x long streamer, #2–#4
• Thread: White 6/0
• Body: Pearl Mylar braid
• Belly: White bucktail, sparse
• Wing: Yellow bucktail, topped with a few strands of olive bucktail
• Shoulders: One yellow mallard flank feather each side, flat, covering the front half of the wing
• Throat: Short orange or red hackle fibers
• Eyes: Stick-on 3D eyes, coated with UV resin

How to fish it: Fish it along weedlines and drop-offs on a sink tip. Strip in 8–12 inch pulls with a two-count pause. Perch dart, stop, then dart again. Pike and smallmouth hit on the pause. Use a short wire or 30-pound fluoro bite tippet if teeth are involved.