Flies such as the Stoat’s Tail and the Thunderflash fly featured here also have the bonus of being great attractors for sea trout. Such patterns can be fished effectively from spring through to late summer and will often pick up fish where many have failed with the usual orange-based colours.
Tie this particular fly in sizes 8 to 16 and you’ll be equipped for all water heights. This one seems to work especially well fished on a floater or sink-tip in the last hour as the light starts to fade.

Hook: Size 8 to 16, low-water double
Thread: Red
Body: Flat gold tinsel
Rib: Gold wire
Hackle: Orange cock
Underwing: Yellow Krystal Flash
Wing: Black arctic fox
Cheeks (optional): Jungle cock

How to tie the fly

1. Clamp the hook in the vice, wind the thread down the shank in touching turns and tie in a length of wire.	2. Wind back up, covering the tag of wire, and tie in a length of tinsel.	3. Wind the tinsel down and then back up the shank in tight, touching turns to form an even body.
4. Using neat, open turns, wind the rib. Then tie it off and remove the excess.	5. Tie in an orange hackle by the base. Make three turns before securing it and clipping the stalk away.	6. Tie in three to four strands of Krystal Flash to form a wing. Clip the strands to uneven lengths.
7. Take a sparse bunch of fox and tie it in securely, so that it lies on top of, and a little longer than, the Krystal Flash.	8. Carefully clip away the excess hair and secure the wing with several tight turns of thread.	9. Tie in a jungle cock feather on either side of the wing before forming a small head, whip finishing and varnishing.

Total Fly Fisher