I first tied the Blue-eyed Monster several years ago. At, the time I had been tying quite a few classics---- in this case, flies with body veilings on edge: Blue Boynes, Red Pirates, etc. I had some good materials on hand and wanted to invent a few patterns of my own. I tied some low winged and married winged patterns, but, wished to do a big feather pattern, a. fly with a classic look which would also have the appearance of a moth.

I had caught a buckeye moth and took that as my inspiration. The buckeye has spots on its wings, so if I wanted my fly to resemble a buckeye, I would have to find a suitable feather with spots. I decided on the Palawan peacock pheasant quill; it has two spots and it has a moth-like look.

I started with a tip of oval silver tinsel and a tag of purple floss. You don't see many classics with a purple tag, but it is a color I really like to work with. For the tail I used a golden pheasant crest and for veilings I chose chatterer tied on edge. After I tied in the top veilings, I lthought it might look interesting to tie in a set of the veilings on the bottom; it looked good, so I left them as they were. Next came a butt of black herl, and then the back half of the body: purple floss ribbed with medium-fine oval silver tinsel, veiled on the bottom with chatterer on edge. Then a butt black herl.

For the front half of the body I went with red floss and a rib of medium oval silver tinsel, hackled with black or purple or both, then, a collar of black.

For the wing, nothing proved as good as the Palawan peacock pheasant quill. When you tie in the quills for the wing; flatten them with flat-nosed pliers. Then take each quill separately - hold them in the pliers and, at the spot where the fibers start, bend the quill backwards. Move the pliers forward about two of three thread turns in distance. While holding the quill in the pliers, twist the quill up and in. If this makes sense and you do it correctly, you will find that by precrimping, the wing can be tied in easily.

After I had the wing tied in I put on side veilings of jungle cock, then Indian crow, then chatterer. Crest of golden pheasant and horns of scarlet macaw, your choice. I finished with a herl head for the classic touch. The herl head is an area I have tried to perfect on my flies and it took some time to them to look the way I wanted, but it was worth the trouble. I've had a few tiers and collectors comment on the way I do my herl heads. Sometimes it is the small things that make the difference.

Since I tied the Blue-eyed Monster, I've done quite a few of my own patterns, some nice ones, but nothing to compare with the combination of materials on the Blue-eyed. Experimentation and luck are key. There is a lot of activity surrounding salmon flies now, with some outstanding tiers at work. I'm sure we will see some beautiful creations in the years to come. Have fun and keep tying.