This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Ray Bergman’s Grackle.
Bergman’s Grackle is a wet fly listed in his book entitled Trout (1940 – fourth printing) on page 64, Plate No. 4.
As I’ve mentioned many times, I enjoy highlighting a Bergman wet fly because it forces me to sit down and tie these elegant flies. I had a recent order for the Babcock and Irish Turkey and decided to tie a couple more Bergman wet flies to use for my TBT posts.
I shouldn’t be surprised, but tying this fly reinforces a statement I use frequently…using quality materials makes a fly much easier to tie. I’ve learned to select a mallard quill with soft fibers that easily collapses when mounting the wing. Some of the dyed quill wings I have are shorter than others and it impacts the results of tying a quality wing.
Bergman was well known for his wet flies, but his book also lists dry flies, streamers, nymphs, steel head and land locked salmon flies.
If you are a regular at RiverKeeper Flies, you recall Bergman’s book includes colored plates to illustrate the dry and wet flies with a description of each fly in the back. It was the first book to provide color fly illustrations.
I’ve featured several Ray Bergman flies as a Throw Back Thursday Fly. If you’d like to see more, click on the Ray Bergman Flies Catagory on the right-hand panel. HERE
The Grackle
Body
Peacock Herl
Tail
Dark Scarlet
Hackle
Black
Wing
Dark Scarlet
Tied on a TMC 3906B, size 8 hook. Materials are listed in the order found in Ray Bergman’s book, Trout.
Enjoy…go fish!
