Tying the Rio Grande King (an early 1900s, almost forgotten fly)

I discovered this fly in the July 1968 issue of Sports Illustrated, in an article about Richard O'Conner who fished this fly exclusively his entire life.

Hook: #12-14 dry fly
Thread: Black
Tail: Golden pheasant tippets
Body: Black chenille
Wing: White calftail, Trude style
Hackle: Brown dry fly

** Some of the popular books used on this channel: **

Fly Pattern Encyclopedia: https://amzn.to/34U0rUe
Mike Valla's "Tying the Founding Flies," 2015, https://amzn.to/354oSir
Valla's "Tying and Fishing Bucktails..." 2016, https://amzn.to/3Jg2Mys
Valla's "Tying Catskill-Style Dry Flies," 2020, https://amzn.to/3DmYOjJ
Valla's "Classic Streamer Fly Box," 2020, https://amzn.to/3n3Vakf
Dave Hughes, "Essential Trout Flies," 2017, https://amzn.to/3lbCZYX
Hughes, "Nymphs for Streams and Stillwaters," https://amzn.to/3HC2jpc
Hughes, "Wet Flies," 2015, https://amzn.to/33ac3lQ
David Klausmeyer's "Favorite Flies," 2020, https://amzn.to/3oeSNMa
Randle Scott Stetzer's "Flies, the Best One Thousand," https://amzn.to/34Q15mp
Terry Hellekson's "Popular Fly Patterns," 1976, https://amzn.to/2L4IyvS
Dick Stewart's, "Flies for Bass and Panfish," 1992, https://amzn.to/3aGpFs1

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. Thanks for stopping by.