Sturdy's Fancy
Peacock herl body, a yellow tag and a white hackle — a Red Tag with the tag changed and the hackle lightened so you can actually see it on a grey November afternoon. Grayling take it with the unhurried confidence they reserve for peacock herl, which nobody has satisfactorily explained in a century and a half of trying.
Mild, overcast autumn and early-winter afternoons when a shoal is showing. Dead drift, and wait — grayling rise slowly and a trout-speed strike takes the fly away from them.
Nobody has satisfactorily explained peacock herl in a century and a half of trying, but grayling take it with a confidence they give few other materials — and the white hackle is the practical half of the design, because on a grey November afternoon you can still see where the fly is.
