Invicta

Materials List
Hook: Down eye Silk: Brown
Tail: Golden pheasant crest feather
Rob: Oval gold tinsel
Body: Yellow-dyed seal’s fur
Body hackle: Red game cock palmered sparsely
Wings: Hen pheasant centre tail
Throat hackle: From wing of blue jay or blue dyed guinea fowl

Tying Notes

  • prepare the tail by wetting the pheasant crest feathers and allowing them to dry on plate glass
  • tie the silk in with a jam knot and run the thread down the hook shank in touching turns
  • assess the length of the tail and tie it in
  • tie in the gold oval tinsel from the front of the hook, underneath the shank, to the bend of the hook
  • dub the seals fur onto the tying silk
  • tie in hackle feather and palmer it along hook shank back to bend
  • wind oval gold tinsel ribbing back through palmered hackle and tie off back from the hook eye
  • tie in blue jay or guinea fowl hackle as a beard
  • select a slip from the hen pheasant centre tail and fold in from both ends and fold again to form the wing
  • attach wing by using a pinch and loop technique
  • whip finish by hand or with a whip finishing tool

Background Notes

Invented by James Ogden, the renowned Cheltenham fly dresser, as a good representation of a hatching sedge fly. It is ideal for fishing on small or large waters from a boat or the bank, usually as the bob fly in a team of three.