Carrie Stevens's 1924 masterpiece, tied to imitate the smelt of Maine's Rangeley lakes and still the most famous streamer in America. An orange floss body under gray saddles, golden pheasant crests, white bucktail, and a silver pheasant shoulder — a fly worth tying slowly and fishing with conviction.
1. Thread base — Attach black thread and wrap to the bend.
2. Body — Wrap thin orange floss in smooth turns to behind the eye. Rib with flat silver tinsel. Tie off both.
3. Belly — Under the shank at the head, tie in: a sparse bunch of white bucktail extending past the bend, then a golden pheasant crest curving upward to meet the wing.
4. Underwing crest — Tie in a golden pheasant crest on top, curving down over the body.
5. Wing — Tie in four gray saddle hackles, curves paired, extending just past the tail-end of the belly.
6. Shoulder — Tie in a silver pheasant body feather on each side, about a third of the wing length.
7. Head — Smooth black head, whip finish, lacquer. (Jungle cock cheeks finish the classic; omit without guilt.)
