Each fall, following my annual pilgrimage to the Skeena system for steelhead, I return home and develop a series of winter projects for this vice. The thrill of a big buck boiling at a hitched Silver Hilton maybe gone for months, but a relaxed, creative time lies ahead. A time that brings with it a renewed anticipation of what the new creations will catch in the coming seasons.

These projects are balance of steelhead flies tied for the stream and salmon flies that will find their way into shadow boxes, domes and contributions to friends and conversation.

The salmon fly projects evolve from reading and reviewing the classics as presented in Bates, Kelson, Sawada, Jorgenson, Schmookler and others. These projects always precede the steelhead plans because the tying of Doctors, Rangers and Parsons instill a discipline and elegant standard that I am convinced improves the quality of the steelhead patterns.

This year it was Bates' new book, Fishing Atlantic Salmon: The flies and the Pattems, and its many beautiful photographs (thank you, Mike Radencich) that triggered project number one, a series of low water flies. In particular, it was Mark Waslick's Black Doctor (page 208) that got my attention and most influenced my desire to tie low water flies.

My first step was to select the patterns that I would include in the set. This was a fun process because it involved hours of thumbing through my books looking for the right patterns. In the end I decided on a blend between a selection of traditional low water patterns-Silver Blue, Blue Charm, Jennie,. March Brown, Logie and Coachman, and some married wing classics, Green Highlander, Silver doctor, NightHawk and Dusty Miller.

In converting the full-dressed patterns to a low water style, I decided to simplify the recipes and eliminate any tail veilings, horns, shoulders, roofs, cheeks and toppings (the latter two being decisions I wish I had not made). The use of Jungle Cock for sides provided a nice opportunity to utilize the mini-nails at the base of the neck. Bodies were not modified.

I tied the bodies slightly longer than midpoint of the shank, but with the head distinctly back from the eye. The wings extended to the point of the hook. This structure seemed appropriate for the partridge N hook (2/0) that I used, but in fact it was another misstep. My intention was to use Bob Veverka's new hook (Daiichi 2131) which has a relatively flat eye and straight shank, two desirable qualities for low water patterns. I ordered the hooks from Bob, who appropriately described the N as a "glunky" hook, but I let my impatience get in the way and tied five of the patterns before Bob's lovely hooks arrived. I decided to complete the set on the N's.

I used Griffith's 14/0 thread and was very satisfied with its strength and ability to flatten. I was also pleased to find it did not cut into the wing fibers as I suspected it might for such a thin thread. Without question, it contributed to making and shaping the small heads I prefer. The thread also contributed to the thin bodies I was trying to achieve because it helped counteract the big iron in the N.

In tying and critiquing the flies, some new lessons were learned and the importance of several other techniques confirmed. In tying the small mallard and teal wings, I found an underwing of turkey helped greatly in stabilizing the softer, more fragile waterfowl feathers. I initially made the mistake of selecting and using the longer mallard fibers near the base of the stem, instead of fibers closer to the tips. The longer fibers were too soft near their tips where they had to be secured and thus much tougher to keep married and shaped than the fibers nearer the tip of the stem.

For the married wings I used 13 fibers and again found it desirable to utilize fibers nearer the tip of the stem. With such a short wing there was little opportunity to achieve the shoulder I normally like.

I found it difficult to shape the golden pheasant crest tails with the tiny feathers selected from the head. I struggled to achieve the vertical flair of the crest that adds so much to the larger patterns. Ultimately, I chose to only apply a topping to the Coachman.

I was disappointed in the tags that included floss. They were so short they did not add to the fly as they normally do when tied from barb to point. A straight tinsel tag would probably have been superior. If I had used two or three turns of the extra-fine oval tinsel, rather than five turns, there likely would have been a better balance.

I prefer thin, sparse, translucent bodies for both display flies, and especially for the flies I fish. Because the N's have such a thick shank I decided the tinsel-bodied flies should be secured at the rear, resulting in a single forward wrap. On the patterns requiring a yarn butt, such as the Silver Doctor, I secured the flat tinsel under the butt, but on the flies calling for a herl butt, I secured the tinsel immediately in front of the butt to ensure a smooth foundation for the herl. Normally I do not like to secure flat tinsel in front of the butt because it is so difficult to achieve a perfectly smooth body without a little ridge or gap. With the oval tinsels used for ribbing I did not remove the tinsel where it was secured, even though this could have further helped to reduce the thickness of the body and ensure a smooth foundation for the flat tinsel. Where the recipe called for floss, I attached it in front and wrapped back and then forward because it is so easy to flatten and control the thickness.

Finding hackle small and webby enough ( a hook gap or less) for the bodies and throats required a great deal of careful selection. Ninety percent of the schlappen and saddle that is generally appropriate was simply too long. I most cases webby hackle near the tip was the best choice. I did not choose to utilize a false hackle approach for the throats which might have been a better idea, given the difficulty I had in finding suitable hackle.

The longest and most difficult part of the project, the framing of the flies for a Trout Unlimited auction is yet to be completed. For me this will take lots of planning and preparation because my intention is to display them in a shadow box with the name of each pattern written in calligraphy under each fly. An unsatisfactory recent effort to display a series of Knox's Spey patterns with a print of the River Spey taught me much more planning is required.

I would greatly appreciate any input from the membership on how they would have approached the project whether it be the choice of hook, how the patterns were modified, or how the quality could have been improved.

Florican bustard (Otis tarda), or the Great Bustard is commonly simply referred to as Florican in many classic patterns. A suitable substitute is Lady Amherst pheasant side tails dyed tan.