Fly Brooch Pin

To create a brooch pin, I have chosen a fly that has worked very well for me on Pacific salmon in Alaska.

This Black Laced Neptune is an adaptation of the Neptune Streamer which was originally used for large brook trout in Labrador.

Since its inception, it has also been used successfully for numerous other species. For me, the Black Laced Neptune in bright colours has been one of my most productive salmon flies in Alaska.

Being very colourful, it also makes an incredible brooch pin and looks great on a dark evening gown.

While this fly is fairly easy to tie, doing the same on the brooch pin presents a problem. The pin has to be bent at an angle to allow thread wrapping to take place. It takes practice to avoid being jabbed by the pin. A brooch pin can simply not be tied as quickly and easily.

All you need is oval tinsel, flat tinsel, badger saddle hackles, Krystal Flash strands and patience.

The wing uses four badger saddle hackles and the collar uses two to three badger saddle hackles. All saddle hackles should be the same size.

This brooch can be tied in green, pink, orange and yellow. All make a striking jewelry piece.

RECIPE

Hook: Gold brooch pin size 1/0

Thread: Black UNI-thread 8/0

Rib: Silver oval tinsel

Body: Silver flat tinsel

Wing: Four black laced saddle hackles dyed chartreuse, four to six pearl chartreuse Krystal Flash strands on each side

Hackle: Two or more black-laced saddle hackles dyed chartreuse

Head: Clear cement

TYING A FLY BROOCH PIN

Step 1

Make a good base by wrapping thread over the hook shank.

Tie in the oval tinsel along the hook shank.

Tie in the flat tinsel in the middle of the shank (not at the end).

Step 2

In the photo, I have shown the pin bent at about 45-degree angle.

When wrapping around the shank with all materials, you have to make very short wraps.

Wrap the flat tinsel backward to where the tinsel is tied in and then reverse, tying the flat tinsel toward the eye at a spot leaving enough space for the three saddle hackles to be tied in collar style.

Wrap the oval tinsel forward making two turns for the tag and wrap forward to where you tied off the flat tinsel.

Prepare four equal-sized saddle hackle feathers (two on each side facing in).

Trim off the butt sections and cut off the fibres at the butt end.

Step 3

Tie in these four saddle hackles holding them on top until they are securely anchored.

Wind the thread under the hackles at the back and then over top of the hackles. This will get the hackles to stay at an angle to the shank.

Tie in four to six Krystal Flash strands on both sides of your hackles.

Step 4

Tie a saddle hackle in by the tip and wrap forward about two to three turns.

Wrap your thread back through the hackle, pull back on the fibres and secure this hackle.

Step 5

Repeat Step 4, tying in two or more saddle hackles.

Finish the head with a whip finishing tool and use head cement or lacquer of your choice.

Bruce Ross has been hooked on fly fishing and tying his own flies since the early 1970s and has fished throughout Canada and the US. Contact him at [email protected].

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