Man cannot live by Full Dress alone. (Although sorme of us -would sure like to!) There are many other facets to Salmon flies which offer challenge and beauty to those willing to explore them. Some of these flies also offer lessons invaluable to dressing Full Dress patterns. The Dee and Spey flies are just two of these styles which can offer a new level of challenge to the Salmon Fly tyer. These flies are sleek and graceful, with widely varying design, construction and coloration. There are even "Crossover" flies, as I call them, which have married or mixed wings and other intricacies. Look to the Dee and Spey patterns to expand your horizons.

The Dee and Spey flies were given birth in the Tay, Spey and Aberdeenshire Dee regions of Scotland (as well as others). These patterns are as old, if not older, than the majority of the Full Dress patterns we have. They run the range from rather spartan, like the Gold Riach (Reech, if you will), to quite complicated, as in the Black Dog, a typical Crossover. In general, these flies tend to be more freeform than Full Dress and the tyer has leeway in the construction.

There are several differences between these flies. Dee flies tend to have Golden Pheasant Crest tails and other tail veilings. The wings are usually simple strips of various Turkey Tails set flat (not so simple!). Lastly, the bodies are generally more complex than that of spey's, i.e., joints and veilings are fairly common on a Dee fly. Conversely, Spey flies typically have no tail, or a very simple tail at most. The wings are often tented Bronze Mallard or upright strips of Turkey Tail. Finally, the bodies are usually simplistic yet ribbed with several different tinsels or flosses.

With the differences duly noted, we can continue looking at the generalities found on all these flies. Underneath all these flies lies an iron which is unusually long in the shank, usually 4 or 5X long. Hence the name, Dee Iron. Next, the bodies are slim and sleek, even when they are dubbed. The most familiar characteristic to everyone is the long, flowing hackle. This can be palmered up the entire body, over the front half of the body or just put in as a throat. Armed with this knowledge, we can now readily identify the difference between a Dee, Spey or "Crossover" fly.

Often, these flies will offer the tyer new techniques to try or allow us to see materials in a way we never thought of. A great example of this is the body hackle on W. Garden's Dee Fly, Me Gardener, as found in Kelson's. How many of us would ever think to use a topping as a hackle?

Then there are the variations, which are often radical, which can add even more flies to our repitoire. Perhaps the most familiar would be the substitution of White Swan for Cinnamon Turkey in the Akroyd, which gives us the White-Winged Akroyd (either single or double winged). A lesser known, yet similar, change is found in the Tri-Colour. By substituting Red Golden Pheasant Breast for Teal (or Widgeon) in the throat and White Swan for Cinnamon Turkey in the wings, we have a Dee Fly called The Killer.

For anyone who thinks that Spey's, Dee's and Crossover's constitute only two or three percent of the flies available, I offer the following fact. Restricting myself to Kelson, Hale, Francis-Francis, Pryce-Tannatt and Frodin, I catalogued over seventy five patterns. The list can be found on the next page. I am confident that some of the inclusions will be suspect and may raise some hackles of their own, but using the criteria set forth earlier, these all meet the previous definitions. Does this mean that a fly may fall into more than one category, sure! I never did like to have a closed mind or be decisive about where to pigeonhole (Crown Pigeon, that is) a particular fly.

So, I humbly present to you the following list for your approval and amusement...

The Akroyd Kelson, p.107 Dee
The White-Winged Akroyd Kelson, p.107 Dee
Balmoral Kelson, p.109 Dee
The Black Dog Kelson, p.115 X-Over
The Black King Kelson, p.116 Spey
Captain Walton Kelson, p.128 X-Over
The Carron Fly Kelson, p.129 Spey
The Claret Brown Kelson, p.132 X-Over
The Dallas Fly Kelson, p.137 Spey
The Dunt Kelson, p.144 Dee
Ethel Kelson, p.146 X-Over
The Fairy King Kelson, p.147 X-Over
Floodtide Kelson, p.149 X-Over
The Gardener Kelson, p.151 Dee
Glen Grant Kelson, p.153 Spey
Glentana Kelson, p.153 Dee
The Golden Eagle Kelson, p.155 Dee
The Gold Riach Kelson, p.157 Spey
The Green King Kelson, p.161 Spey
The Green Queen Kelson, p.162 Spey
The Grey Eagle Kelson, p.164 Spey
The Highland Gem Kelson, p.167 X-Over
Holland's Fancy Kelson, p.169 X-Over
Ike Dean (or Ich Dien) Kelson, p.169 X-Over
Lady Caroline Kelson, p.179 Spey
Lady Grace Kelson, p.180 Spey
Miss Grant Kelson, p.189 Spey
Mrs. Grant Kelson, p.190 X-Over
Niagara Kelson, p.192 X-Over
Pitcroy Fancy Kelson, p.195 X-Over
The Purple King Kelson, p.198 Spey
The Quilled Eagle Kelson, p.199 X-Over
The Red King Kelson, p.200 Spey
The Rough Grouse Kelson, p.203 Spey
The Silver Ardea Kelson, p.205 X-Over
The Black Ardea Kelson, p.205 X-Over
Strathspey Kelson, p.212 Spey
The Tri-Colour Kelson, p.217 Dee
The Killer Kelson, p.217 Dee
The Wilson Kelson, p.221 X-Over
Yellow Eagle Kelson, p.222 Spey
Crane Hale, p.146 Spey
Dr. Forbes Hale, p.150 Dee
Killer (differs from Kelson) Hale, p.168 Dee
McIntyre Hale, p.174 X-Over
Mignon Hale, p.176 Dee
Ivanhoe Hale, p.202 X-Over
Lady of the Lake Hale, p.202 Spey
The Gled Wing Francis, p.13 Dee
The Tartan Francis, p.13 Dee
Various Eagles (3) or Aigle Francis, p.14 Spey
Mr. Brown's #4 for the Don Francis, p.15 Spey
Mr. Brown's #5 for the Don Francis, p.15 Dee
Mr. Brown's #6 for the Don Francis, p.15 Dee
Sir Alexander's #4 (Findhorn)Francis, p.30 X-Over
Sir Alexander's #5 (Findhom)Francis, p.31 X-Over
Sir Alexander's #6 (Findhorn)Francis, p.31 X-Over
Sir Alexander's #8 (Findhorn)Francis, p.31 X-Over
The Lord James Murray Francis, p.35 X-Over
The Plain Shannon Francis, p.35 X-Over
The Spey Dog Francis, p.40 Spey
Mr. Haynes #6 for the Lee Francis, p.58 Spey
Jock o' Dee Pryce, p. 231 Dee
Moonlight Pryce, p.231 Dee
Grey Heron Pryce, p.233 Spey
The Black Heron Frodin, p. 29 Spey
The Culdrain Fly Frodin, p.58 Spey
The Gold Speal Frodin, p.58 Spey
The Silver Speal Frodin, p.58 Spey
The Gold-Green Fly Frodin, p.58 Spey
The Silver-Green Fly Frodin, p.58 Spey
The Gold Reeach Frodin, p.95 Spey
The Silver Reeach Frodin, p.95 Spey
The Gold-Green Reeach Frodin, p.95 Spey
The Silver-Green Reeach Frodin, p.95 Spey
The Brown Heron Frodin, p.105 Spey
The Orange Heron Frodin, p.105 Spey
Various Eagles Frodin, p.194 Dee

Now we can get into the meaty stuff like hooks, materials and methods of application.

As I mentioned earlier, a traditional Dee Iron is about 4 or 5X long. Most of these hooks are no longer readily available as blind eyes, so it may behoove you to make your own in this case. Following the directions given by several recent articles, it is possible to achieve very good results. Just keep in mind that the length of the shank makes the heat treating and tempering process a bit more crucial. If you prefer to use eyed hook than you have several choices. Arguably, the best choice is a Partridge "N" Iron. Most original Dee irons had a straight shank and a sort of Limerick & Sproat Bend. Throwing this into the wind and opting for a different effect, the Alec Jackson Spey Hooks make a lovely base on which to tie these flies. Other fine irons are the Francis-Francis hooks from Belviordale, the Daiichi 2421, the Tiemco 7999 and most recently, Bob Veverka's Classic Salmon Hook (currently only available in size 2). In my experience, the sizes should range from a #4 to a 5/0 (if you really want to push it?) Most people I have spoken with and my personal preference is around a 1/0. It offers plentiful shank and materials are easy to find for this size.

Beginning with the body, the most important factor to keep in mind when dressing these flies is the fact that the bodies are meant to be slim. It is easy to do this when they are composed of floss or Berlin, but when it gets to seal, sparse and tight is the key. If you use the order of tie in as tag, tinsels, hackle, body, throat and finally the wing, the resultant body should contain sufficient wraps for strength, yet be minimally bulky. You can use the standard techniques of stripping tinsels to the core and undoing previous wraps to further minimize bulk. Body wraps should be taken tightly, no matter what the material, and the tinsels should also be wrapped tight. Using a bodkin to keep the hackle out of the way makes the body and crossing tinsel much easier to wrap.

As we all now know, the biggest visual key to these flies is the hackle and its lay in relation to the body. We want them to have a swept back, sleek, or as Mike McCoy would say, "Wicked" appearance. Achieving this is merely a matter of understanding the hackle itself. The two most common hackles in use for these flies are Blue Eared Pheasant (as a sub for Heron) and Schlappen (as a substitute for Spey Cock). While no two feathers could be more dissimilar, their application is just as different. Heron is typically used over the front half of the body or even just at the throat while the Spey Cock is used over the entire body. Heron is also tied in conventionally, by its tip, when the Spey Cock is tied in at its 'root' or fat end. As a rule, both of these hackles are stripped of one side prior to tie in and the side stripped determines the direction of wrap around the body. An example is stripping the left side (with the good side facing you) to wrap conventionally, that being from under the shank around the near side and then over the top. By stripping the right side (again with the good side facing you) to wrap reverse, typically with Spey Cock, which starts under the shank and around the far side and then over the top and towards you. The previous directions should be reversed for a left-handed tyer. To achieve this swept back look, use the fibers themselves to help guide the quill into the correct angle while you're wrapping the hackle. With Schlappen, the windswept look is gained by simply stroking the fibers backwards and letting them marry to each other. The single biggest help in a nice, dean hackle job is to strip the quill at the tie in point and leave a good quarter inch of bare quill before the fibers start, this gives you an area of quill which can twist into the correct orientation without having errant fibers running amok, just take it into account when the planning is going on so your hackle can still appear to start in the right place!

To this point, at lot of this is pretty basic, but I wanted to be complete for the newer dressers among us. Besides, I often forget the basics!

In general, the order I like to tie in is as follows...

1 Tie In Gut for Eye
2 Tie In Tinsels and Run Thread to Bend
3 Tie In Tag, Wrap Tag
4 Tie In Body
5 Tie In Hackle
6 Wrap Body
7 Wrap All Ribs Running With Hackle
8 Wrap Hackle
9 Wrap Crossing Rib
10 Tie In Throat, Wrap Throat
11 Tie In Wings
12 Finish Preening

Getting into the throat, the two most desirable characteristics are long, straight fibers and a really thin quill. The thin quill helps us by not adding to the bulk we must go around when mounting the wings. To prepare the throat, strip away the side which is normal for you and trim the tip of the feather to give you a good tie in point. Take only a turn or two, lest the throat grab too much attention visually. Tie it off with as few wraps as possible. I'll generally use two, maybe three and then unwind one while I'm mounting the wing. I'll always leave a little quill however, which will be bound down in the following steps and make the throat a bit more stable.

Speaking of wings, now comes the part you've probably waited three pages for. As I said earlier, wings can be made from many different materials. Ducks like Mallard (Bronze, please), Gadwall, Teal, Merganser, Etc. as just as useful as Goose shoulders, dyed Swan, strips of Turkey or Pheasant wing or tail. The secret to winging either a Spey or a Dee is in the proper handling of the wing while it is still on the quill. Duck fibers should be stripped off the quill so as to leave the attachment filament at the root of the fiber, this will keep the butts together. Wings and tails require some delicate work. In order to keep the butts together on these materials, you must leave them with a piece of quill attached. This will also benefit you by providing a handle for you to steer the material into place. The most reliable way to accomplish this is to split the quill lengthwise and then use a single edge razor to cut out the section you need. Just please be careful using these blades, they have the potential to ruin your month faster than a batch of weak thread and untempered hooks! If you want to see the scars, I'll gladly send you a picture. A wayward blade can also wreak havoc with fibers, so just go slow and let the blade do all the work.

In the next issue, we'll cover the actual mounting of those perennial favorites like Bronze Mallard and the Fashionable Dee wing. This should keep you hanging on! Until then, may your spey hackle always be swept waaaaaaay back!