Tying Parson's Sunset

TYING "PARSON'S SUNSET"
By Hugh McDowell

Provided courtesy of Fish & Game New Zealand magazine

Materials

1. HOOK: Partridge 01 Single Wilson #4, 6, 8 -- I have never tied this on any other hook, so to be true to pattern this is the only hook to use, although you could substitute any of the following and trout won't notice the difference: Kamasan B175, Tiemco TMC 7989, Mustad 94840
2. THREAD: Black Monocord or 6/0 Unithread
3. TINSEL: Large Oval Gold
4. BODY: Yellow and orange Seal's fur substitute, dubbed
5. DUBBING WAX: Overton's Wondermax or Gherke's Flymakers wax.
6. WING: Honey Grizzle.
7. HACKLE: Soft, webby natural red or ginger.
8. GLITTER: Two strands of #6902 Gold Flashabou, same length as wings.
9. TAIL: Originally golden Pheasant tippets, but can use small bunch of scarlet or orange hackle fibres.
10. EYES: (Optional) Jungle cock eye feathers or paint eyes on with enamel.

Tie tail of golden pheasant tippets and secure tinsel before creating a body of dubbed seal's fur substitute (Body Yellow, 1/3rd Orange).		Select matched pair of honey grizzle feathers.
Tie in "matuku style," i.e., back-to-back with tinsel spiralling through fibres and over stems to hold feathers on edge along top of body.		Tie in third feather by the tip. Form a hackle collar.
Tie in two strands of gold flashabou on each side.		Add jungle cock eyes if desired