modern Michigan dry fly · 2008
Night Stalker
Likely origin Both sources are Deschaine's own: the archive card (2008) and his Fly Anglers Online column, which only calls the series recent.
History
Tom Deschaine worked out the Night Stalker as a series of night flies in 2008, tying it in six body colors from red to white. The card's sample uses kingfisher-blue deer hair with a powder-blue face hackle.
He fished it in slow or still water, twitched on top while it floats and then retrieved slowly once it soaks up water. He also noted that he does the reverse of the usual night rule, using a dark fly on bright nights and a light one on dark nights. His Fly Anglers Online column on the series says it had been fished on about a dozen rivers in three states.
Materials
| Hook | Dry (Mustad R50-94840), size 6 |
|---|---|
| Thread | Matched to the body color |
| Tail | Two hackle tips in the body color, set in a slight V, about one hook length past the bend |
| Underbody | Dyed deer hair (red, blue, green, black, yellow or white) laid along the shank, reaching the end of the tail and flared there |
| Overbody | Krystal Flash in the underbody color |
| Hackle | Dyed deer hair collar at the throat, one hook length long, flared back |
| Face | Dry-fly hackle in the body color |
Sources
- Deschaine, T. "Night Stalker." Michigan Dry Flies archive recipe card.
- Deschaine, T. "The Night Stalkers." Fly of the Week, Fly Anglers Online, May 9, 2011.
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No photo yet. Every photo on michfly is of a fly tied for the site, so they're added a few at a time.
Original recipe cards for many Michigan patterns are kept at the Michigan Dry Flies archive, built by the late Tom Deschaine.