Black Sheep Tungsten Conehead

The Black Sheep was created by an Icelandic fly-tier Haraldur Stefansson on the Grimsa River in Iceland.   The design of this salmon fly was based around two concepts.  The first was to tie a fly that resembled a returning eel parr from the Sargasso Sea.  The second was to produce a fly for some conservative American friends who declined to use tube flies so he wanted to design a fly pattern that resembled a tube fly without actually being one.   His friend Joseph Hubert on seeing the fly (back in 1977) declared that it was like a ‘black sheep’ in the company of all other classic salmon flies and the name stuck! Black Sheep has become a international fly, used widely from shores of Canada to the Russian Tundra. Tied in multitude of variations and sizes, from 2” copper tubes, down to #18 trebles. A very good all round fly, that catches fish from early spring to late autumn. The Dee Sheep is a variation, and has become a hugely popular in UK in recent years.