what is it ? help please

[Englander]

Hi Guys

Can some one please tell me which wet fly has a purple body ?? I saw it the other day "somewhere", doing my head in ?? think it was purlple thread body with sliver rib ?? cant mind the tail or wing

Ring any bells ??

Englander

[yorkio]

Snipe and purple?

Snipe & Purple?


An effective 'spider':

Hook - #14

Tying silk - Purple

Body - Purple floss

Hackle - Snipe.


No rib, wing, or tail.


If you want those features; it'll be a 'Dark Mackerel' - a sea trout fly which I don't use.
You'll have to Google the dressing .



PiB

[Englander]

Nope this had a siver rib................ looked like a traditional stlye winged wet if i remeber correctly.may be it was a varitation of a trad pattern ?? Just cant mind where i saw it ............Doh !

Englander

[Highlander]

The winging would normally dictate what fly it was, so you would really have to know what it was. These old Scottish patterns were invariably named after the materials used.
ie Grouse & Purple,Teal & Purple, Woodcock & Purple etc etc. Tails were usually GP tippets (orange coloured with two black bars showing). Having said that the bodies were normally wool or dubbed seal fur & not thread like you mention. May well be a local pattern.
As the other posters said the Snipe & Purple is a North Country Pattern & does not have a rib in the standard dressing.
Afraid the Dark Mackerel is an entirely different fly with a body of
Red Lurex, palmered claret hackle & wing of Bronze Mallard. A tail if required can be GP tippets.
The Snipe & Purple is a good nymphal suggestive pattern when early spring Iron Blues are about.
Tight Lines

[IanD]

Only know of two winged wets with a purple body, and don't think either is generally tied with a silver rib.
There's a version of Broughtons Point which has a purple body instead of the usual claret (black hackle and starling wing) and John Veniard's Purple Dun, which has a purple seal fur body, tail of brown hackle fibres, starling wing and dark brown hen hackle.
They're tied smallish as they were intended as copies of natural flies.

[troutheaven]

I would say Broughton Point. Very obscure.

[Gander]

Originally Posted by Englander

Can some one please tell me which wet fly has a purple body ??

Are you sure it wasn't a dark claret?

Originally Posted by Highlander

...Afraid the Dark Mackerel is an entirely different fly with a body of Red Lurex, palmered claret hackle & wing of Bronze Mallard. A tail if required can be GP tippets.

I believe this is the evolution that you describe:



However Graeme Harris & Moc Morgan, in 'Successful Sea Trout Angling' (p338) describe it as a the precursor of the 'Red Mackerel' variant which had a darker furnace hackle.



PiB

[dwiltshire]

Could it be the Killarney Killer? - That has a purple hackle. Just a thought...