No tags yet.
The Red Devil Snaelda is a great fly for for many conditions but particularly when the water has a little colour. The weight and size of the fly is highly adaptable between 35 - 80mm with plastic or metal tubes. The fly has become so popular that you can now buy specially turned funnel tubes that help promote the classic carrot shaped body. The version here is 80mm long and based on a tie by Davie McPhail that you can find on YouTube - he is certainly a master (and master educator) of our art.
The Snaelda originated in Iceland (Snaelda means spindle, or cassette in Icelandic ) referring to the tube the fly is tied on. The fly was adapted and popularised in the UK by the ghillie Sean Stanton who added feelers like the Francis fly and christened this hybrid as the Franc'n'Snaelda.
My version of the Red Devil Snaelda uses Uni 8/0 in red and a Sean Stanton 20mm Tungsten tube, lined with a black Tubeworx liner. The tail is formed with red flash and red bucktail. The eyes are made from melted 60 lb shock leader and the tail hackle is dyed red pheasant rump. The shrimp feelers are dyed black boar bristle. The body is formed of UV Red wool ribbed with a large gold oval tinsel. The head hackle is also a dyed red pheasant rump feather and the fly is capped with a large Tubeworx silver cone-head that is melted onto the inner tube.