In June of 1998, shortly after I started
fly-fishing, Jason Hamel's Woolly Peacock pattern (recipe available
in the Virtual Flyshop Pattern Archives) caught my attention since
trout are known to like peacock and woolly buggers. At that
time there was just the recipe and tying instructions, and no
picture.
For some reason I never tied the wing according to
the instructions. I just clipped the peacock eye from the stem and
folded the barbs over the top half of the body before tying them
down.
With just a couple of these tied, my son and I went
fishing at West Canada Creek. It was the last Monday in June and we
went to a spot called Blue Barn Bend, located in the trophy section
of that stream. This pattern was the first and only one that I tied
on that day. Our entire fishing day lasted a little more than three
hours, but in that time I caught two browns, a rainbow (uncommon in
that stream), and a chub. Two of those trout were in the middle
teens! It might not seem that amazing until you factor in that I had
only been fly-fishing for three months and my casting skills
were basically just lobbing the fly out there. It was also mid-
to late-morning, not really the best time to fish at that time of
year.
Needless to say, I was hooked on this pattern and
have worked on it so that the eye part is more pronounced. I brush
on some thinned Dave’s Flexament just to the back of the eye so the
quills don’t split when you tie them in. I add some ribbing for
strength and a red throat for an injured look. Instead of folding
the eye over the top, which tends to split the quills even more, I
now take a left and right section and tie them more on the sides of
the streamer.
As an alternative, try gold marabou and gold
Flashabou in the tail for a much different appearance. To
get the streamer down deep, try weighting it by wrapping lead wire
or lead substitute over the hook shank before winding the peacock
herl body.
This pattern seems to work better in larger streams
where there is enough current for a down-and-across drift. I have
yet to try it on bass or brookies since I fish top water stuff 90
percent of the time.
By the way, a photo image of Jason’s Woolly Peacock
was added to the recipe and instructions sometime around September
of 1998, and it was then that I realized I was not tying it the
"right" way. But by then it didn’t seem to matter much, as I had my
own favorite variation.