Sheep Fly - Fly Tying Appalachian/Great Smoky Mountain Trout Flies

Another historic fly in my Great Smoky Mountain series, the Sheep Fly was created by Newland Saunders of Lenoir, NC. This heavily weighted nymph imitates the deer flies of the region-- if you're not familiar with deer flies, think of biting horse flies. That's a deer fly.

This fly pattern is a fairly simple tie. The body is a mix of muskrat fur and rabbit but could be made from any buggy dubbing blend you want. I could envision a squirrel or opossum mix as well as the original muskrat/rabbit.

Hook: Nymph, #10-14, 1-3x long
Thread: Brown
Weight: To match hook size
Tail: Brown hackle fibers
Body: Muskrat or any buggy mix
Hackle: Brown, rooster or hen, medium stiffness
Wing: Grizzly hackle tips

Credit for the pictures used in this video goes to Gretchen Griffith and Ron Beane, from their book, "Fly Fishermen of Caldwell County," published in 2015.

Book info: https://gretchengriffith.com/books_fi...
At Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/151...

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. I've been uploading about 3-4 new videos a week (usually Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday).

Thanks for stopping by. Please let me know in the comments if you have any tips or tricks that could help me or anyone else watching.