Drop An Anchor: Tying A Picasse Variant

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By Kenzie Kozera

The original “Picasse” is a design from guide and fly tyer, Marc LeBlanc. Translating to “anchor”, the Picasse has become a staple on many salmon rivers in New Brunswick and Quebec, as its large, flowy profile with great visibility has proven very productive, especially for large, early run Atlantic salmon.

Picasse variants are quite common, straying from its original colours of black and yellow wing and instead using blue, green and orange for differing conditions. In this post I will tie a black and golden olive variant on a golden #1.5 single.

Recipe:

Hook: Up-eye salmon single or double(#1.5 Daiichi 2055).

Tag: Small silver oval tinsel.

Body: Copper flat tinsel.

Rib: Medium silver oval tinsel.

Wing #1: Golden olive temple.

Flash: Gold Krystal flash.

Wing #2: Black arctic fox or crystal fox.

Spey hackle: natural (grey/brown) heron.

Collar: silver pheasant.

Eyes: Jungle cock.

Head: black head with a gold middle section. Made glossy with a few coats of cement.

Step by step instructions:

Step 1: Affix your thread to the hook. Color is not, in my opinion, crucial here. However, you will want a thread that will lay flat in order to allow for a smooth body.

Step 2: Tie in a tag.

Step 3: Tie in a rib, silver oval tinsel.

Step 4: tie on flat copper tinsel, taking your time to ensure a smooth body.

Step 5: wrap your rib forward five turns.

Step 6: tie your first wing, golden olive temple.

Step 7: Add some flash. I added fine gold crystal flash in this case.

Step 8: tie in your second wing, a long black fur which is slightly longer than your first wing.

Step 9: add your "spey hackle", a natural heron hackle.

Step 10: Wrap a collar of silver pheasant.

Step 11: Add jungle cock for eyes.

Step 12: A finishing step, as a nod to the original pattern, tie a two toned head of black and gold. I did this but shaping the head with black thread and then tying on a few flat wraps of yellow or gold thread in the middle of the head.