Fishing and Tying the Picket Pin: A Classic Fly for Trout and Panfish

I started tying flies about 30 years ago, but I still remember the first handful of patterns I learned to tie and fish. Maybe that’s more proof that I’m getting old – things that happened decades again are crystal clear in my memory, but I can’t quite recall what I had for breakfast this morning! Either way, one of the first flies I learned was the Picket Pin, and I remember one particular evening when it worked exceptionally well.

The water was high on Buffalo Creek, but as usual, I was fishing the Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only section after school. This was Spring 1995, and I’d only been fly fishing for a year or so and tying flies for about 6 months. My fly box consisted of only a handful of subsurface patterns: Woolly Buggers (of course!), Zug Bugs, Hare’s Ear Nymphs, and this new one I’d just added to the lineup, the Picket Pin.

As a kid, I spent a great deal of time perusing books to find the next great fly. And I still do, to be honest, but for different reasons today than I did back then. Back then, I thought the right fly would make me a better fly fisherman; now I tie new patterns to keep things interesting and try something new. It’s also very possible that I’d encountered an older and much wiser fly angler during one of my evenings after school on the stream who advised that a Picket Pin was really all I needed. I can’t remember exactly which came first…seeing the fly in a book or having it recommended to me, but several of them ended up in my box.

That evening on Buffalo Creek, the water was a little murky yet but clearing quickly. It had that exact color that, as soon as you arrive, you know the fish are going to be hungry. But as I opened my fly box, I realized my stash of Woolly Buggers, my usual first choice, was depleted and I hadn’t replenished it. But I had plenty of Picket Pins, and they worked just fine. Whether it truly was the pattern or the simply ideal conditions, I really can’t say, but I landed around 40 fish in 4 hours – not bad for a newbie fly kid!

The success of that evening was enough to ensure the Picket Pin has secured a place in my fly box ever since.

Fishing the Picket Pin

The Picket Pin is a versatile fly that can be fished any number of ways. I occasionally strip it like a streamer or swing it like a wet fly, but more often I dead drift it like a nymph. It can be a great stonefly imitation, especially in low and clear water.

The past couple of years, I’ve revisited many old, non-beadhead patterns that I used to use because local streams have been so low and fish have been spooky. I’ve adjusted, or I should say “readjusted,” to throwback patterns with no beads and no additional weight. These are perfect for subtle presentations to skittish trout on those long, flat sections of river that can be difficult to approach. In these instances, I like sight fishing the Picket Pin, and its larger profile makes it easier to see and track.

In deeper, faster currents, I add a small split shot a couple inches above the fly and either tight line or drop it under an indicator. There’s no wrong way to fish a Picket Pin.

Materials Needed to Tie the Picket Pin

Hook: 2XL nymph hook such as the Model 8 from Wholesale Fly Company, sizes 12-16

Thread: 6/0 Black Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread

Tail: Red squirrel (pine squirrel). If you can’t find a tail, use hairs from strips of hides.

Body: Peacock herl

Rib: Gold UTC Ultra Wire

Hackle: Brown, palmered over body

Wing: Gray squirrel tail

Thorax: Peacock herl

Tying the Picket Pin

The key to the Picket Pin’s effectiveness are the materials used to tie it, primarily the peacock body. Depending on how the light hits it, the fly can imitate a stonefly, larger nymph, beetle or some other terrestrial insect. Peacock herl is an amazingly versatile material used on some of the most effective patterns ever developed, such as the Pheasant Tail Nymph, Leadwing Coachman, and countless others.

Tying the Picket Pin also provides the opportunity to use a material I don’t often tie with anymore: squirrel tail. Long ago, this was a frequently-used material in many patterns, but many new designs seem to have forgotten about it. As a wing material, squirrel tail is ideal because its frosted tips certainly do a great job of imitating the edge patterns found on many winged insects.

More than that, I believe it’s the contrast of dark-colored roots and light tips that create the intrigue and make trout strike. Sometimes it seems like any two colors from opposite ends of the spectrum can be combined and make trout want to eat them.

I tie Picket Pins in sizes 12-16. In this tutorial, we’ll use a size 12, 2XL nymph hook, the model 8 from Wholesale Fly Company.

Start by securing 6/0 black thread on to the hook shank and stop it at the bend of the hook. Gather a small clump of hair from the red squirrel tail, approximately ¼ the thickness of a pencil and tie it in about one hook gap in length.

Next, secure a length of gold Ultra Wire followed by 4-5 strands of peacock herl. Wrap the herl toward the front of the hook, stopping about two-thirds of the way up the shank. Secure and trim the herl.

Select a hackle with fibers long enough that they extend just beyond the point of the hook. Use open spiral wraps over top of the peacock herl body toward the bend of the hook. Use the Ultra Wire to secure the hackle with one or two counter wraps and then advance the wire through the hackle making sure not to trap any of the fibers. Secure and trim the wire. This will make the fly more durable as well as provide just a hint of sparkle.

Pull a small clump of fibers straight up away from the natural gray squirrel tail so that the white tips are mostly aligned. Cut out the clump near the base of the tail. The tips do not have to be perfectly aligned, but pulling them perpendicular to the tail will align most of the them. Attach the wing in front of the body with the tips extending backward out over the bend of the hook but shorter than the tail.

Finally, select three strands of peacock herl and tie them in together in front of the wing. Wrap the herl into a nice, full-looking head, secure, trim, and whip finish.

Did You Find This Fly Tying Guide Helpful?

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