Fly tying Step by Step
by John Gray
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The Magus
I first used the Magus on the
River Endrick in 1989, where it caught quite a few salmon and sea
trout. Since then, the fly, in its various incarnations, has taken a number of salmon from
rivers as varied as the Spey, Earn, Ruchill, Teith, Allan, Alness,
Borgie, Nairn, Dulnain, Dee, Tyne and probably a good many more. Intended originally as a
tenuous representation of the prawn, Parapandulus richardi, as
illustrated in "Salmon Fishing" by Hugh Falkus, the Magus has
been modified over the years. The most noticeable change has
been the substitution of fluorescent floss for the jungle cock
cheeks but the fly retains the mobility and translucence I look
for in a salmon fly, with a touch of colour and a bit of flash
thrown in for good measure. I have recently adapted the dressing
as a needle tube fly, substituting the very mobile dyed Arctic
Fox hair for the original squirrel, with or without a few
strands of Krystal Flash.How to tie the Magus
Materials
Single, double or treble salmon hook (size 8 Ken Sawada double
shown)
Black tying thread size 8/0 or 6/0
Squirrel tail dyed magenta or light claret
Crystal hair
Silver wire or oval tinsel
Flat silver tinsel
Fluorescent pink or magenta floss
Natural squirrel tail
Cock hackle dyed magenta or light claret to match tail colour
Cock hackle dyed black.
Click on the images below to enlarge
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Step 1
Tie a bed of tying thread as shown.
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Step 2
Tie in a bunch of dyed squirrel tail fibres in magenta or
light claret. |
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Step 3
Tie in a strand or two of crystal hair. |
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Step 4
Tie in a length of silver wire or oval tinsel and wind thread
back towards the hook eye. |
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Step 5
Tie in a length of flat silver tinsel. |
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Step 6
Wind the tinsel to the tail and back up again and tie in. |
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Step 7
Wind a rib of wire or oval tinsel over the flat tinsel. |
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Step 8
Trim wire and tie in a length of fluorescent pink or magenta
floss as shown. |
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Step 9
Fold the floss back and trim to the desired length to form a
wing. |
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Step 10
Tie in a cock hackle dyed magenta or light claret. |
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Step 11
Wind three turns of hackle.
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Step 12
Trim the first hackle and tie in the black hackle in
front. |
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Step 13
Wind two or three turns of the black hackle in front of the
magenta hackle and trim the surplus hackle. |
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Step 14
Tie the hackles back to the desired angle, whip finish and
apply two coats of varnish to the head. |
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The Magus 1989 to 2012
The evolution of the Magus over twenty years
The Magus 1989
The original fly was dressed
as shown here with jungle cock under the top
black hackle.
The Magus 2000
Fluorescent Neon Magenta floss
has been substituted for the jungle cock and a
couple of strands of Krystal Flash added to the
tail, along with an underwing of natural grey
squirrel in the bigger sizes.
The Magus 2012
The Magus may be dressed
simply on a short Needle Tube, in this case
using mobile Arctic Fox as a wing/tail in
appropriate colours of magenta and black,
leaving the silver tube undressed. Krystal Flash
may be added if desired. A fluorescent pink
hackle has been substituted here for the
fluorescent floss wing behind the two front
(magenta and black) hackles.
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