Hairy Mary
The Hairy Mary is a versatile modern reduced-dressing salmon fly that has been catching fish in Scotland and Ireland for decades. Its black floss body, blue Guinea fowl throat, and deer-hair wing tied in a simplified 'hair wing' style is far faster to tie than a fully dressed pattern and equally effective on the river. Popular on the Dee, Spey, and the salmon rivers of Ireland, it is one of the most produced salmon flies in Europe.
- Type
- wet fly (Atlantic Salmon)
- Hook sizes
- #4–10
- Target species
- salmon
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Best seasons
- spring, summer, fall
Materials
- hook: Salmon hook #4–10
- thread: Black
- tag: Yellow floss or silk
- tail: Golden pheasant crest
- body: Black floss
- ribbing: Oval gold tinsel
Tying steps
- Mount a salmon hook; start black thread.
- Tie in a yellow floss tag and golden pheasant crest tail at the bend.
- Wind oval gold tinsel ribbing.
- Wind black floss body from tag to the 2/3 mark.
- Counter-wrap oval gold tinsel rib in 5–6 spirals.
- Tie in blue Guinea fowl as a throat hackle.
- Stack a wing of natural brown bucktail or fox squirrel tail.
- Build a neat head; whip finish and lacquer.