The duck feathers from early season hunting have been begging me to tie a few flies, so when they came out of the freezer a few nights ago I had to sit down and stock the boxes. Wood duck feathers are some of my absolute favorites to tie with. The chocolate brown feathers on a hen wood duck are awesome for Baetis-style flies, and since Baetis are hatching right now on the streams, I decided to go with a BWO theme. I’ve been wanting to tie a soft hackle with the tiny feathers on the shoulder of a duck’s wing, so I tied up this little soft hackle emerger that ended up faintly resembling a BWO…
- Hook: Nymph or wet fly hook of your preference
- Bead: Gold brass
- Thread: Brown 8/0 UNI (I used black on this one)
- Tail: Chocolate brown hen wood duck breast/neck feather fibers
- Body: Brown thread
- Rib: Fine gold copper wire
- Thorax: Natural red squirrel
- Hackle: Dark brown duck soft hackle feather (not sure what it’s called but I used the small feather on the top side of the wing close to the body)