Wet fly

Black Butcher

Dark loch-style attractor

Trout · Sea troutSubsurface

A black-hackled Butcher variant — flat silver tinsel body, red hackle-fibre tail, dense black cock-hackle wing/beard in place of the standard Butcher's blue-mallard wing. Darker and more sombre in the water than the classic silver-and-blue Butcher, favoured on overcast western drifts.

Fish this when

Summer drifts on Irish and Scottish loughs (Beltra and similar) on the middle or top dropper, especially on darker, overcast days when a sombre silhouette out-fishes the flashier classic Butcher.

Why it works

The silver body still gives flash and profile, but the black wing/hackle reads darker against the sky than the standard Butcher — useful when trout are shying off brighter patterns.

Naturals it imitates