Ghost Stone Fly #2 Double

The Ghost Stone Fly...what a weird pattern!

In the world full of oddball patterns that is Atlantic salmon fly tying, this one is in the running for the strangest of all time. It is a variation of Lee Wulff's "Surface Stonefly," which is quite possibly an even stranger pattern. The history of these flies can be found on this great blog post from the FlySpoke Blog (which is one of my favorite blogs). 


This pattern first came to my attention a few years back during a phone call with Bryant Freeman of Eskape Anglers. I was up fishing the Miramichi and he was headed off to fish the Kedgewick. He mentioned that he and his friend had just caught some very large salmon on a variation of the Surface Stonefly and they were headed back for more. Last summer, I noticed my good friend Marc had some Wulff Stonefly variations in his fly box. He let me take one home to copy. Here is the Ghost Stone variation I tied:


Thread: Chartreuse 6/0
Hook: Sprite Double Salmon #2
Parachute Post: Straight pin with a clear glass bead
Tip: Oval silver tinsel
Body: Chartreuse Gordon Griffiths floss (coated with super glue for durability)
Wing: Black squirrel tail, under a few strands of holographic Flashabou, under white marabou
Hackle: Grizzly, wound parachute style on the straight pin (under the glass bead)

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The business end