Fly of the Week: Picket Pin

This weeks Fly of the Week comes from the Northwestern part of the US of A; the Picket Pin. This is the fourth installment of the NAFFF tie-a-long and so far is the first that I had never tied before. I had did a quick Google Image search before the step by step was posted, and my reaction was a bit along the lines of  "WTF..." But Mr. Pocono's great instructions made this fly almost as easy to tie as a Woolly Bugger. (Click the prior link and scroll down until you find it.)

Traditionally (per Mr. Pocono. I'm not pretending to know anything about this fly) this flys wing is made with prairie dog tail. In lieu of this Pocono uses grey squirrel tail. I have neither, but I do have some red and black squirrel tail (the natural color of NYC squirrels, I believe) which worked quite handsomely. The fly is called the "picket pin" because prairie dogs, when on their hind legs, were said to look like the picket pin that cowboys used to picket their horses.

Here is the recipe for the fly that I tied, only slightly different from what is posted in the tie-a-long. If you are thinking about tying this one, I suggest taking a look at the step-by-step. It is excellently written.

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The Picket Pin:
Hook: Size 6 streamer
Tail: Pheasant tail fibers
Body: (optional lead weight) Purple peacock herl /  ginger colored hackle
Wing: red & black squirrel tail
Head: Purple peacock herl.