Mike Kennedy's Park

Merry Christmas fly fishing and tying community!  I want to extend my best wishes to you and your family during this joyous season. May your new year be prosperous and fishing karma always on your side!

The last fly of the year comes from the late Mike Kennedy who was considered the expert's expert. Trey Combs pens the following from his ground breaking 1976 book, Steelhead Fly Fishing and Flies: "Mike Kennedy describes his pattern as follows:  'This bug (fly) was designed by Dr. Edward Park of Baltimore, Maryland.  I first saw the pattern in print in the June 1948 issue of Fortune magazine.  I was first attracted to the bug because it was tied very much like I dress a steelhead fly (short body, sparse).  When I first tied it, I did so when I had no decent supply of either jungle cock or golden pheasant topping.  Thus I bastardized the pattern, but it took steelhead so well that I never bothered to dress it as Dr. Park did.  In any event, it's a hell of  fish producer for me.  The good doctor used this pattern on the Margaree for Atlantic salmon, and, if it worked as well as it does in southwestern Washington and Oregon, it should have been a killer.' "

"Mike calls the fly a 'killer' and no doubt it is very effective.  I should point out that he is very conversation oriented, returning the vast majorty of the many steelhead he catches."

I can certainly see how a topping of golden pheasant crest(s) and jungle cock would bring a lot of class and effectiveness to this pattern.   The golden glow and movement of natural crests in the water is hypnotizing and jungle cock adds aesthetic beauty!

I am going to show you another technique that deviates from tying and wrapping a normal hackle. Let me show you how to tie and wrap rabbit guard hairs for the hackle.  This is tremendously effective with the right river flows!

Materials

Hook:  Choice (Daiichi 2051, size 5 pictured)

Thread: Black (10/0 Veevus pictured)

Tag:  Flat narrow silver Lagartun

Ribbing:  Medium oval silver Lagartun

Body:  Black chenille originally.  (Uni-yarn black 2X wool pictured)

Hackle:  Yellow.  (Rabbit guard hairs pictured)

Wing:  Natural skunk or any dark brown hair

Step 1:

Place hook in vise.  Start thread approximately one eye length behind eye and secure return wire loop with thread.  Advance thread rearward to position shown.

Step 2:

Remove 3-inches or so of flat narrow tinsel from the spool.  Cut a longish beveled (tapered) appearance.   Tie in tinsel near the tip with taper facing rearward as shown.

Step 3:

A lot of tiers will make the ribbing from a continuation of the tag.  However, we have two different materials.  Additionally, the technique of securing the final wraps of tinsel can be applied to tags where thread build-up is not desirable.

With close touching turns, wrap tinsel rearward until reaching the distance between the hook point and barb (center) then return to the starting point.   Right before the final turn of tinsel is wrap, undo the thread wraps which tied the tapered end in.  Make final wrap of tinsel and secure with even thread wraps rearward to the hook point.  Each wrap of tinsel should not over lap.

You should end up seeing both waste ends of tinsel.

Remove waste ends and advance thread to the end of the returning wire.

Step 4:

Tie in black wool at the end of the returning wire on the side of the hook.  This helps cover (or reduces) in the distinctive bulge of the end of the wire when returning wool to the area with smooth and even body.  

Make even wraps rearward just forward of the hook point and return to position shown.

Step 5:

Tie in approximately 4-inches of oval tinsel underneath the hook at the 4:30 clock position (slightly away from you).  Once secured in tight even warps, advance thread forward to the returning loop.

Step 6:

Slightly twist wool clockwise until the two strands rest side by side (flat).  Wrap forward is close side by side turns.  Secure in position shown.

Step 7:

Securely wrap tinsel forward in 5 equal segments and secure.  Unfurling the tinsel (as shown) will greatly reduce thread bulk.

Step 8:

Form a dubbing loop and apply and tacky wax.

If you haven't already noticed, I stopped the thread well behind the eye area- more so than normal. We will be utilizing rabbit guard hairs as well as a little under fur for hackle.  This is overall much thicker than normal hackle

Step 8a:

Dampen your finger tips and stroke the rabbit 90-degrees from the hide or zonker strip.  Try to keep the tips as even as possible under pressure of your fingers and cut close to hid.  With your opposite hand slightly pinch and stroke some of the guard out from the butt ends.  (Although the rabbit will significantly thin down when wet, don't make the "hackle" too thick as not to make the body material(s) visible when fished.)  Add hair to loop and gentle spread evenly. Repeat this at least once more (or depending on how thick you want the hackle).  Generally twice is more than sufficient.

Once spread evenly within the loop, cut butt ends as close as possible to the loop.  You may also find tapping the butt ends very gently with your index finger helpful after trimming.

Step 8b:

Spin dubbing twister/loop clockwise until tight.  Do not overly tightly.  This will cause the thread to break.  You should have a chenille-like appearance.

Step 8c:

Dampen fingers and stroke fibers to the rear..

Step 8d:

The amount of turns is dependent of how thick you've made the "hackle" or how thick you would like the final product to be.  Typically 2 to 5 turns is more than sufficient.

Make close tight wraps forward to desired fullness and secure.

Step 8e:

Brush out any trapped fibers.  The rabbit will dry rather quickly by brushing.

Dried rabbit hackle

Step 8f:

My hackle is a little too long.   To shorten or evenly align the tips simply pinch and pluck the longer fibers.  The hackle should be (unless specified)  no longer than the end of the body.

Aligning the tips can be also be done with hackle pliers or tweezers.

Maybe a little more fine tuning...

Step 9:

Measure and tie in wing. (Beginner's Guide is located here)  Secure with tight yet enough wraps to cover the butt ends.  Apply one or more coats of head cement until desired appearance is achieved.  It is highly recommended that you allow the head cement to completely dry before each coat.

Happy New Year!