Absolute perfection at the vice – the Green Highlander tied by John Lind Rasmussen. Pattern as per Dr. T. E. Pryce-Tannat, all original materials – even the hook is custom made by John himself – absolutely stunning work.
Few types of flies are surrounded by more traditions, mystery and historical buzz than the classic salmon flies from the 19th century in England, and one of the most famous and wellknown is the Green Highlander.
The first flies were relatively simple flies – just for catching fish (salmon), but as England gained more colonies around the world, exotic feathers began to appear among the flytiers of the time and the flies evolved into pure works of art with intricate patterns and exotic feathers from around the world – for the king of the rivers nothing was fine enough.
One of the most famous tiers of salmon flies was Dr. T. E. Pryce-Tannat, who in his book “How To Dress Salmon Flies” (1914) presented the fly The Green Highlander. This pattern comes in many varieties, more or less complicated – but common to all is the grass-green body of either wool, floss silk or dubbing and the warm-yellow front hackle.
The original pattern for The Green Highlander – per Dr. T. E. Pryce-Tannat.
Tag: Silver tinsel
Tail: A topping and barred Summer Duck in strands
Butt: Black herl
Body: First quarter, golden yellow floss; remainder, bright green floss or seals fur
Rib: Oval silver tinsel
Hackle: Grass-green hackle
Throat: Lemon hackle
Wings: Mixed–tippet in strands of yellow, orange and green Swan, Florican Bustard, Peacock wing and Golden Phesant tail
Sides: Strips of Teal and barred Summer Duck and jungle Cock
Roof: Bronze Mallard and a topping over all
Horns: Blue and Yellow Macaw
We have had our swedish friend Håkan Karsnäser behind the vice. Once again he shows his skills in tying, this time his passion for the classic salmonflies has been converted into a tubefly-version of The Green Highlander.
The Green Highlander tube-version by Håkan Karsnäser
Tube: Pro Sportfisher Flexitube Fl. Green
Thread: White
Body: Pro Sportfisher FlexiWeight, copper
Wing: Yellow, orange and warm brown artic- or marble-fox. Between each bunch, gold and green Angel-Hair is tied in. On top of the wing strands of peacock pheasant is tied in.
Hackle: Green Highlander cock-hackle
Fronthackle: Warm-yellow cock-hackle
Sides: Pro Sportfisher Jungle Cock Gen3
Head: Fl. Green Conehead
One of the advantages of using tubeflies is the ability to change the hook. Below The Green Highlander Tube is mounted with different hook-styles:
A single tubefly-hook – the Ahrex HR430 Tube Single.
A double tubefly-hook – the Ahrex HR440 Tube Double.
And at least a treble-hook – the Ahrex HR450 Tube Treble.