Fly Tying the Black Ghost (Classic American Streamer)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ย. 2021
- Created by Herb Welch in 1927 on the Mooselookmaguntic Lake in Maine, the Black Ghost has been an effective pattern for almost a hundred years.
Hook: #2-10, 5-7x long streamer
Thread: Black
Tail: Yellow hackle fibers
Rib: Flat silver tinsel
Body: Black floss
Throat: Yellow hackle fibers
Wing: Four white saddle hackle feathers
Cheeks: Jungle cock (optional)
If you would like to support Savage Flies' mission of giving back to the fly tying community, and you shop at Amazon, please consider using the following Amazon storefront for any purchases. (The channel makes a small percentage of sales when purchased through these links.)
www.amazon.com/shop/savageflies
** Some of the popular books used on this channel: **
Dave Hughes, "Essential Trout Flies," 2017, amzn.to/3lbCZYX
Dave Hughes, "Wet Flies," 2015, amzn.to/33ac3lQ
John Shewey, "Classic Steelhead Flies," 2015, amzn.to/2RywHcP
David Klausmeyer's "Favorite Flies," 2020, amzn.to/3oeSNMa
Morgan Lyle's "Simple Flies," 2015, amzn.to/3qB1zW1
Fly Pattern Encyclopedia: amzn.to/34U0rUe
Mike Valla's "Tying the Founding Flies," 2015, amzn.to/354oSir
Mike Valla's "Classic Streamer Fly Box," 2020, amzn.to/3n3Vakf
Randle Scott Stetzer's "Flies, the Best One Thousand," 1992, amzn.to/34Q15mp
Terry Hellekson's "Popular Fly Patterns," 1976, amzn.to/2L4IyvS
Dick Stewart's, "Flies for Bass and Panfish," 1992, amzn.to/3aGpFs1
Fly Pattern Encyclopedia: amzn.to/34U0rUe
Savage Flies is a project with the mission of encouraging and teaching fly tying to as many people as possible. The channel is named after one of my western Maryland homewaters, the Savage River. I've been uploading three new tying videos a week, with the occasional extra video on other days.
Thanks for stopping by. Please let me know in the comments if you have any tying tips you would like to share or if you have any patterns you would like to see tied here. - กีฬา
Hey there fly tying brother! Im John. Ive been enjoying your fly tying videos for over a year and this one in particular is a good beginner fly. Im disabled and in a wheelchair so i cant get into the water to fish and i use spinning gear. Thanks for the inspiration!
Nice looking streamer. Thanks for all you do for us Matt.
Thanks for tying a Maine staple, no self respecting brookie or salmon would refuse a black ghost in Maine. Here we usually tie streamers on 9 xl . Trick for the four strand is one full twist at the start. Typically we tie the wing even with the tail, limits short strikes while fishing them. I am fortunate to have some of Herb Welch’s tying materials. Rangeley is an hour and a half away.
That's cool to hear William. And good point about the longer wings inducing short strikes. I think the one in this video was on a #6, and the others of these I have in my streamer box are #8s. Now I'm wondering if all the misses I have when fishing a featherwing streamer, are short strikes. That could be the case! I just thought I suck at setting the hook. And thanks for the tip about twisting the four-strand floss. I'll definitely give that a try. :-)
Good morning Matt, I am turning into a streamer junkie. I’ve got to dedicate myself to Fishing home I haven’t in the past but here in the future I’m going to☕️☕️
Beautiful bug👍
Appreciate it Jim! I'm not sure I'm a streamer junkie yet, but under the right conditions, there's nothing more exciting than a big brown chasing down your streamer. :-)
LOL, I want to chase some bass🧐
Had to come back to rewatch thank you for sharing
As always Matt, outstanding presentation. BZ.
Thanks Dennis! I appreciate it my friend. :-)
Great looking fly and nicely tied. When wrapping the floss body, increase your angle to the hook. This will help to keep the floss from splitting. Thanks Matt for sharing
High Layton,great tip on angling your floss a lot of tiers dont know about.I can tell you have tied a lot with floss.Have a great day.
Thanks Layton! Sounds like a great tip, but I'm not sure I understand. So... the hook is flat in the vise, parallel to the bench. What angle is there to increase?
Great Job as usual! I like the background stories on the flies before you start tying them,
Thanks! That's one of the things I like about finding classic patterns to tie. The history can be pretty interesting. :-)
Yep, a great streamer! Love you idea with the wings. Thx Matt! Nice looking fly.
Thanks Clyde! Always appreciate it my friend. :-)
Nice history lesson,cool fly, thanks Matt, nicely tied.
Thanks Lee! I figured you'd appreciate the background. :-)
beautiful splash of color and the wings look phenomenal Matt!
Appreciate that Sarge! PS: your pie made me hungry. :-)
I wish I had one quarter of your talent
Ha! Thanks for the kind words Marty. But you should have seen some of the flies I tied just five years ago. I've been tying off-and-on for a long time but only really got serious a few years ago. Before that it was to maybe tie a dozen standard patterns every year or two. And if I tried anything complicated it was a disaster. :-)
"It'll fish". 😊nice fly.
Now you're talking. The Black Ghost is my go-to streamer for trout here in the Driftless. I don't fish a streamer very often but, when I do, it's usually a Black Ghost. But I do tie it with a marabou wing and in smaller sizes -- generally a 12 or even a 14. In general, smaller is better in this neck of the woods.
That's awesome Peter. I'd love to try this thing down to a #12 or so. And a fly that size wouldn't take much marabou at all. I'll bet we could whip out these in smaller sizes in just a couple minutes each. :-)
Nice one,Matt.Always thought Carrie Stevens,Rangley,and Classic Wet Flies we’re fun to tie,challenging but fun.I know I had said it before,if you pinch the hackle stem with your finger nail it gives you more control when mounting the wings.
Yep Michael, and I actually remembered that this time! But I thought these feathers went on easily enough (on the first one I tied), and I thought I might have pulled them apart where I glued them. I did your tip with a Golden Girl a couple weeks ago and it certainly helped. :-)
Nice looking fly Matt. As always the very best are not that complicated. You make it look ez. Thanks for sharing.
Appreciate it Stan! Thanks for watching my friend. :-)
OH YA!
Nice tie Matt! One of my favorites. Keep em coming. It would be nice to see you tying more new England flys. Just for awhile. Take care.
Absolutely Frank! I love tying streamers, but sad to say, these videos usually don't get a lot of views. It seems more people go to TH-cam to learn how to tie nymphs these days. But these old classic streamers, man I love them!
@@SavageFlies their loss.
I tie these streamers from 2 9x down to 12. Great in Brooks for natives to landlocked in our bigger waters. And so many variations over the years.
Well done Matt
Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s no shame in your game. You did that classic justice.
Ha! Thanks Dave. :-)
Good old classic streamer good with a marabou wing .nice one Matt. 👍
Yep Hugh, lots of people will tie this with marabou too. And that's probably a lot cheaper! One tuft of marabou vs. four hackle feathers. :-)
I’ve tied hundreds of these over the years and the friends I fished with and I used to keep a bowl of water handy to wet our fingers and stroke the floss to get it wet before wrapping and it goes on without any fraying or separation when using single or four strand floss. 😊
Great tip Mike! Sometimes I keep a wet sponge if I'm tying up a handful of flies with marabou, but I'll have to try it when using floss. I appreciate the note. :-)
I haven’t fished streamers much, but I do like the looks of this one. Thanks for the history and by the comments this fly needs to be in everyone’s box. Thank you for your video and excellent instruction.
Appreciate it Mark!
That is a cool looking fly Matt
I think I have all the materials for this one, will definitely have to try it out Thanks for the video Matt, see you on the next one 😀
Go for it Dave! It's a fun one, and if you do the trick with gluing the feathers together before putting them on, it's not too hard. :-)
Nice streamer pattern. I believe you’re right single strand floss is the way to go. But you saved it nicely. Great job. Thanks.
Ahhh... thanks Richard. And you know, this thing would probably still look good with a black yarn body if we could get it flat enough.
great one matt thanks see ya joe.
That is a real nice streamer Matt.
Thanks Randy!
Love this fly When I'm doing floss bodies, I use 2 of the 4 stand and I wrap by hand. Sometimes I use a burnishing tool to smooth things out I'll use the rotary for the rib sometimes. 👍👍👍
Great tip Thomas. I probably should have used two strands. Kind of a compromise between the one-strand UNI and this four-strand. Or maybe I should just break down and buy some silk. :-)
@@SavageFlies ill use 4 strands if I'm making 1 pass, but will still wrap it by hand
Thank You!
love it Matt ! Thanks for the history lesson !!! And the great Fly !
Thanks James! Always appreciate it my friend. :-)
Matt this is a great fly.I have tied and fished it for years.Like a lot of streamers not hard to tie,but really tuff to get to look.I have tied a lot of BGs,the more you tie better perfection will get.I knew the history on this 100 year old pattern,but a lot of tiers dont,great job Matt.Have a great day Matt. Ken
Great classic fly pattern! Nice job Matt!
Thanks George! Something about the classic streamers that just look cool to me. :-)
Nice ty Matt , going to ty some
I know i say this all the time, but imma say it again. Lol
Always a pleasure to watch your videos. Love the history of the flies and their inventors. I really appreciate the work you put in, in preparation for the shows.
Thank you for all that you do, Matt.
Interesting technique, wrapping the wire through the marabou. I do love to learn new things, in fly tying and everything else for that matter.
Thanks again, Matt. Have a great day and I look forward to your next video.
Peace.
Well I always appreciate the kind words of encouragement Kyle. It's really what keeps me going sometimes. Hope you're having a great week my friend!
Great pattern, I fish it alot. I have caught alot of trout on it!! Good tie Matt!!
Appreciate it Franky!
Again I love the history! It’s really nice to know the back story of the flies
Glad you like them! I appreciate you watching. :-)
Nice fly Matt, pretty simple and a good looking fly. Keep the good stuff coming.
Appreciate it!
I'm partial to Danville thread and floss myself. I commented on another video of yours saying I believed Danville thread was strong than utc, I tested that the other day and I was totally wrong lol. When I first started tying i kept breaking my thread, which was utc 70 denier, so I got the initial impression that utc wasn't good so I stopped buying it. Three years later and I've learned all that I have along the way, including proper thread control/tension, and I found a spool of utc 70 I had stored away so I loaded a bobbin and started tying. 2 dozen flies later and I can safely say Danville and utc are both great. I still prefer Danville just because it's what I've used all this time, but utc still has a spot on my bench. And on the note of floss, again I prefer Danville just because I think it looks nicer, and I like the 4 strand floss because I can break it down and tie 4 flies with one length of floss making the spool last a lot longer.
Great comment David! I can't remember what brand thread I used when I first started, but I do recall it was an 8/0. So I kind of learned on the thin stuff from the very start. But I also remember trying to spin deer hair bass bugs when I was a teenager and would always break my thread when using an 8/0. Until someone at the fly shop said, "Use thicker thread you bonehead!" I'm paraphrasing of course, but until then, I didn't even know there were different strengths of thread available. :-)
Perfect pronunciation. Superbly effective streamer with either marabou or feather wings, & if a NE fly fisher could be found carrying only 1 streamer, it would be the Black Ghost. I usually tie it on a 4x length hook for easier casting, though 7x long is the traditional size.
p.s. you can vary the length of the wing hackle to avoid fouling as long as it’s at least a little longer than the body. I like to tie them body length plus 1 to 2 hook gapes.
Yep Bob, I agree in theory, and try to remind myself not to make the wing too long, but then I get carried away and make it too long anyway. I just ordered a bunch of 7x hooks so if I try some more classic Maine streamers, I should be set. :-)
A nice tie! One comment...if you're fishing for Landlocked Salmon in New England, the wings need to be shorter, just a touch beyond the bend. Landlocks are apt to grab the tail(short-strike) and you won't get a hookup.
And yes, I've heard of Herbie! 👍
Great tip; thank you! I haven't been fortunate enough to chase any salmon yet, landlocked or otherwise. But someday. :-)
Another excellent video, Matt!
Being new to tying, the most difficult thing for me is learning the strength of each thread. 70 denier is my nemesis. Lol. Constantly breaking it. But ill get it down, eventually. Love watching an experienced tying artist, like yourself.
Keep up the excellent work.
Peace.
Was on a mini vacation for the weekend, so I've got some catching up to do. I apologize for all the comments.
Kyle- no need to apologize! I love reading and responding to the comments. Though sometimes I don't get to them until bedtime around here. :-)
Having fished the Rangeley region, I can say this and its brother the Grey Ghost are killer Landlocked salmon streamers!
Oh man, the Rangeley region is on my short to-do list! And funny you mentioned the Grey Ghost. I have a friend at work heading up there in the spring and he asked me to tie him a handful. He's not a tier so he has no idea how hard of a pattern that is to make look good. :-)
@@SavageFliesMake sure you get to Kennebago!
Nice one Matt, that first one you showed was exceptional! I like fishing feather wings but don't enjoy tying them, I always fuss too much picking out the feathers. I'm taking your advice and tie it to fish. Bucktails are a different story. Your thoughts on the black yellow white colors has worked very well for me on the wing of a bucktail streamer. Thanks Matt
Thanks Joe, and you know... I learned that tip about gluing the feathers together before you start from Peter Charles. He'll even do it with different feathers. Say, the fly is grizzly over yellow feathers, he'll build all his feathers and glue them before even starting to tie. Kind of an assembly line I guess. Which is a pretty smart idea. And gives you the latitude of scrapping a set of wings if you screw them up before you even start. Which I could see happening to me. :-)
Thanks for the pattern. As usual your the craftsman! I never bought jungle cock feathers since they are on the pricey side. I do have a great supply of eyes all different sizes. I have used this streamer with success but I never tied it. I like your version.
Thanks Ed; I appreciate the kind words. JC is indeed pricey that's why I only have one cape and I've made it last a couple years so far. :-)
They do make imitation jungle cock as the bird is supposedly endangered. I got some and they don’t look half bad.
Great streamer Matt. I personally don't fish streamers much but have been thinking about starting to tie some just because there's some beautiful streamer patterns out there and if I can get decent at tying them then perhaps I'll fish them more or possibly make a couple of shadow boxes like the ones you made.
Excellent Cephas! I think streamers do make the best looking shadow boxes. Maybe steelhead and salmon flies too but there are some really great looking streamers out there. 👍
I think the four strand would work better with practice. Im gonna try this one!
You be right. Never thought of that. Even a small black chanile. (not sure I spelled that right).
Beautiful fly, Matt. I just have trouble finding affordable jungle cock eyes. I don’t like using the fake ones. I look forward to tying this one.
A stunning classic fly. I'm not mad about jungle cock eyes. but that doesn't down matter. They do look well on this fly though.Nice work. :-)
I think I have seen that one years ago here on the west coast. Looks great and fun to tie. I’ll give it a shot after I replace my feathers and stuff. I had to toss everything because of those dermestid beetles. I found a few a couldn’t tell if dead or alive or how far they were in my stuff.
Any tips on dealing with these problems in the future. I would appreciate it.
Lots of ziploc bags and a freezer. Of course, you can use moth balls (that also kill beetles) but the smell for those is usually too strong for me. One thing I've found that helps my materials last longer, is to put them in (mostly) air tight bags, or the Glad brand leftover food containers, or both. And... add some of those little packets of desiccant. You know the things that come in the bottom of shoe boxes and all other products that they don't want to get moldy while it sits in warehouses. I do this more for pelts and furs than feathers but it's the same principle. If I harvest a roadkill, say a raccoon, I might let the skin dry outside for a couple of days, then cut the pelt into 4x4 inch pieces, then put each in a ziploc in a freezer for a day or two. Then add a pack of desiccant to the bag. Then throw it in your drawer and pull it out whenever needed. And I've had patches like this for years with no smell or bugs. But sometimes I get lazy and pin a fur or pelt up to the corkboard right beside my bench. That could work too but I wouldn't want to do that with a bunch of really expensive capes. :-) Here are those desiccant packets I'm talking about: amzn.to/3BGH0gi
Morning Matt. What a great morning. Sitting here having my morning coffee, hearing the odd elk bugle and watching a fly tying video. I always seem to have trouble keeping the bodies smooth when I use floss so I appreciate being able to watch your technique. You said in the video that you thought the 5x long might foul more than the 7x, I wasn’t sure what you meant by that and why?
Thanks and have a great day Matt.
Thanks John! If the feather wing is much past the bend of the hook, sometimes after the backcast it can get wrapped in the hook gap. Then the wing is all wonky and the fly won’t look right when stripping through the water.
@@SavageFlies Thanks Matt for clearing that up for me. I figured it was to do with the cast but wasn’t sure why the hook length would make a difference.
Hi Matt , this one am not ready for, ha this fly close to the Black Nose Danc? That I would like to learn ty👍
Ahhh... the black nosed dace. That is indeed easier to tie, and a great pattern. Probably my favorite streamer of all time. :-)
@@SavageFlies thanks Matt , going to try & Tying it myself 👍
Super fly matt I think I might invest in a jungle cock to try it out . I'm travelling to Utah, Wyoming, south Dakota, Montana and Idaho for 16 days next May on a driving holiday hoping to get some fly fishing in somewhere along the way cant wait . !!!!
Holy cow that sounds like a fun trip! I'm totally jealous. 😁
Hey Matt great classic streamer pattern. Will that tie it up very soon. Just wondering if you got my e-mail regarding the salmon fly fishing trip I'm going on October 2nd? I would Def Love to see you tie up some salmon fly patterns I might be able to use on my trip. And any advice you might have for salmon fishing would be greatly appreciated. Tight lines!
Alex- yes, I do remember reading that one. I'm a bit behind in answering email... I took a long weekend at the farm. I'll answer more in an email, but I did come across two plates of salmon flies in Art Flick's "Master Fly Tying Guide" that I think will help you. The plate is called "Ernest Schwiebert/Reduced Traditional Salmon Flies." They're not full dressed salmon flies (you know, the really fancy ones that take hours to tie). They're true fishing flies and look a bit more like what we would tie for steelhead. That makes sense... big flies for big fish. I'll see if I can work one of these flies into a video next week. But in the meantime, you might want to check out this book. You can find a used copy pretty cheap. It's this one: amzn.to/3jRnbwu
@@SavageFlies awesome, thanks for the info.
Good morning did you get the picture of my bench
I did Marty- just didn’t recognize the address at first. You’re good my friend! I’ll be doing the drawing Wednesday night.
Thanks for this one. Yours look better than mine lol. I'm getting better . Where is a good place to get jungle cock eyes?