Remember Part One? Well, let's get down to specifics. The big E. gave me this Black Doctor on a post card printed in Scotland by Nigel Houldsworth.

See if you can learn anything from my observations on this fly and apply it to your own tying.

Tag - Appears to have 5-6 turns of very fine tinsel. The yellow silk has a subtle taper that merges to the body's black silk perfectly. Note how the tag is further to the right than usually taught.

Wool Butt - The butt's profile is low, square and relatively small. One thing the tyer does that's odd is that he (or is it she?) puts a turn of wool in after he ties in the flat tinsel. See dia. A.

Tail - Standard look and length.

Body - Beautifully done, smooth and with a slight taper to it - four stars!

Ribbing - 6 visible turns. The size of the flat tinsel is perfect and spaced right. The other rib looks like a very fine 2 strand lace and has separated slightly from the flat tinsel.

Both Pryce-Tannatt and Kelson only call for oval tinsel ribbing for their Black Doctor patterns. Quite frankly the added flat tinsel in the photo fly looks more attractive. The very fine lace on the photo fly shows no bulk and points to elegance.

Body hackle - Kelson calls for black hackle, Pryce-Tannatt, dark claret hackle. The unknown tyer has no body hackle on the photo fly. Did he just omit it on a whim or did he learn the pattern that way?

Anyway it looks fine to me and I've filed this away for later use!

Throat hackle - Not much to comment on here except note how some modern tyer's throats look so different from this style. WHY!!?

Underwing - Kelson lists tippets in strands. Pryce-Tannatt has tippet in strands with Golden Pheasant tail over. I don't see any visible tippet strands for the Underwing in the photo fly. If there is an Underwing it could be the mottled turkey strips, see B.

Main wing - nothing unusual here except for the top strip, the white with black bars, see C. It could be Amherst center tail but those black bars are awfully thin and too evenly spaced but what could it be except Amherst.

Sides and Cheeks - The photo fly appears to have (maybe not) the grey mallard strip tied in after the Jungle Cock. I find that unusual. Anyway, neither Georgie or Tommy has Jungle Cock in their patterns.

I wonder if the angle of the Jungle Cock (est. 25 degrees) and grey mallard strip which is parallel to the body are the original positions. I would think it would have to be or the Jungle Cock would be hidden by the mallard strip if it were actually tied in before the mallard.

Horns - Kelson has blue McCaw, Pryce-Tannatt has none. Photo fly has scarlet McCaw and is a bit short.

Topping - Follows wing closely and is a quality crest.

Head - Photo fly is red lacquer. Note how low the head is above the hook shank. Could it be the wing stubs and/or the Underwing stubs are not part of the head?

The tip of the hook shank extends beyond the fly's head. I refer to this as the nipple head style and is preferred by me.

The size gut used on this fly is important in determining the size of the fly's head. In this case the gut used here is responsible for about 25% of the head. Of course modern tyers know this and most use much thinner gut to keep their fly's heads small. This often leads to a fly where the gut now looks waaay out of proportion to the fly's size (like a 10" perch would snap the gut).

Final thoughts - Who ever tied this Black Doctor, whether amateur or professional was a skilled tyer.