Bird's Stonefly

• Hook: TMC 2302 #4-8
• Thread: Danville Orange 6/0
• Body: Burnt Orange Floss
• Tail: Two Heavy Moose Hairs, lacquered
• Rib: Furnace or Brown trimmed Saddle Hackle
• Antennae: Two Heavy Moose Hairs, lacquered
• Wings: Black Bucktail or Fox Squirrel Tail
• Hackle: Brown Saddle Hackle

Notes: Developed by Cal Bird in the mid 1950's on the banks of Burney Creek in Northern California. It has become a standard Salmonfly pattern for over 50 years, particularly due to the marketing of Dan Bailey of Montana. The heavy hackling represents the whirring wings. Cal's original pattern trimmed the hackle on the top and bottom with some lacquering to keep the collar projecting out at the side, forward of the wingbase. This tends to compliment the ribbing, also being clipped, and gives the appearance of a darkish orange body, segmented, with whirring wings. The ribbing is actually 2-3 sections of clipped hackle along the midshank. Often, you will see the rib palmered through the body but this is a variation of Cal's original pattern. Cal passed away in 1999. He spent his last 25 years living in Reno, Nevada primarily fishing the Truckee and Lake Tahoe region. Cal attended numerous flyfishing shows demonstrating his creative fly tying with the Bird's Nest, Bird's Stonefly Nymph, and Bird's Caddis. Frank Matarelli developed a dubbing tool of Cal's design which is marketed throughout many fly shops across the nation.