Tying the Purple Peril Fly

Purple Peril Fly

The Purple Peril was developed in the early 40’s by George McLeod, a prominent fly tier and fly fisher from the state of Washington. His father Ken fished the Stillaguamish River for summer steelhead. Admittedly, he was not a fly tier, so he asked his son to order dyed claret hackle from M. Schwartz and Sons in New York. However, a shipping error occurred. Instead of receiving the claret hackle that Ken wanted, the company sent him purple hackle. Rather than returning the material, George went ahead and tied a bucktail fly that was predominately purple. It was dubbed the Purple Peril. It is a dark steelhead pattern that It is effective in many different water types especially off-color water.  

His father also requested that he tie him a bright fly that looked like the color of the sunrise. The result was the famous Skykomish Sunrise. He also tied a contrasting black pattern called McLeod’s Ugly. 

Materials: 
Hook:  Mustad 36890, sizes 2-6
Thread:  Black 3/0
Tail:  Purple Hackle
Body:  Purple chenille
Rib:  Flat silver tinsel
Hackle:  Dark purple saddle
Wing:  Dark brown bucktail or squirrel tail
Optional:  Add a silver tag and/or jungle cock eyes 

 Step 1.Tie in the tail, chenille and tinsel.

 Step 2. Wrap the chenille forward to 1/16 inch of the eye. 

Follow with 5-6 turns of tinsel and tie off. Tie the hackle in.

 Step 3. Spin the hackle three to four times to 1/8 inch of the eye. 

The hackles should be tied back at a 45 degree angle.

Step 4. Tie in the wing and cement the head.