As I continue to tie flies for our third book, Long Flies, I am amazed at the richness of all the long fly designs. Probably, no not probably, simply the most brilliant early development of streamers (long flies with feather wings) came from the vise of Ms. Carrie Stevens. Here’s a two paragraph excerpt from Long Flies about Carrie’s most famous fly, the Gray Ghost.

It was really Carrie Stevens (1882-1953) that elevated the streamer to its permanent place in the annuals of angling lore. Carrie and her husband Wallace Clinton Stevens lived out their last 30 years at Upper Dam, Maine, where Carrie both fished and tied flies. And what a tier. With her incredible skills, and a nod to the art of the Atlantic Salmon fly, Carrie developed there her most famous fly, the Gray Ghost, as well as others in the “Ghost” series and many other imitations that remain as popular and as effective as the day they first came out of her vise. For those who love detail and beautiful art in their flies—and are willing to spend the time to dress them in this age of busy-ness—Stevens’ flies are a paradigm. She modeled her imitations on those of the Atlantic Salmon fly, giving her creations such arcane parts as tips and tags, and toppings. Not really necessary, but certainly fine window dressing.

When one examines a fly like the Grey Ghost, analyzing it for design features, it becomes readily apparent that Carrie Stevens was not just “tying flies.” The wing color is not white, but gray like a smelt’s back. The four feathers of the wing reduces the overall transparency of the fly, giving it a stronger profile and more closely suggesting the non-transparent back of the bait fish. The silver pheasant cheeks nicely mimic a minnow’s gill plates, and the belly of peacock fibers and bucktail not only increase the effective height of the fly, feeding into the development of the correct vertical profile, but also suggest the lateral line and white under belly of a smelt. The thin application of white bucktail made the belly nearly translucent, like that of the natural.

When I was young, I tied the Gray Ghost consulting the Family Circle’s Guide to Trout Flies and How to Tie Them for the correct pattern. I was not privy to the actual tying tactics used my Ms. Stevens, and dressed the fly as shown below. Note however, that I did not add golden pheasant crests nor jungle c0ck eyes (which I could not afford in those days) and the shoulder was the palest grouse feather that I could find amongst those collected with my shotgun.

Carrie preferred very long shank hooks for her flies to better imitate the smelt of the Maine lakes. This imitation is dressed on a size 2, 10X long, Partridge hook with a looped eye. The tag is silver tinsel, the body is orange floss tapered front and back, the rib is embossed silver tinsel

A half dozen strands of peacock herl is added under the body to represent the lateral line if the smelt.

Next comes a belly of long white bucktail to suggest the white belly of the smelt.

A golden pheasant crest is applied as a topping over the body. It shows out through the wing when the fly is wet, giving the imitation more "depth."

The wing is made of four hen saddle hackle feathers faced cup-side inward and tied in so they cover the body.

Silver pheasant feather cheeks are added to suggest the gill plates. Note that this step covers the thread used to secure the other elements of the fly, allowing for a very small head to be formed.

Jungle cock eyes and a throat of golden pheasant crest are added to complete the design.