Picket Pin

The Picket Pin was created by Jack Boehme of Missoula, Montana in the early 1900’s. It was named after a gopher-like animal of the western prairies whose tail hair was used for the wing. We now use gray squirrel tail hair for it. This fly is one big hunk of peacock herl, a material that our salmon and brookies can’t resist. The picket pin is a favorite fly of Harry Cary, the “Dean of Steep Bank Pool”. When Harry is catching fish on this fly in September, I can sell them as fast as I can tie them, as word spreads of its success. The picket pin is sometimes classified as a wet fly and sometimes as a streamer. I have even caught fish on it as the top fly in a double nymph rig. This is an easy fly to tie, just be careful to get the proportions right on the body.

Hook – 9672 size 6-14
Thread – 8/0 black
Tail – brown hackle fibers
Hackle – palmered brown hackle
Body – peacock herl
Wing – gray squirrel tail hair
Thorax – peacock herl