This shad fly is part of The Pfeiffer Collection.
The Maryland Shad Fly is one of the shad flies with no real name that was once used to catch shad in Maryland on the Susquehanna River. Perhaps the shad were considered too pedestrian of a fish to name a fly for, or, the fly was really just considered a regional favorite that was passed angler to angler and never became popular outside of Maryland. Regardless of how the fly came to have no name, it is a very nice looking fly. To be honest, I was pretty surprised how nice this fly looked when I first tied it. The picture in Shad Fishing really does not do it justice. I will be tying a variation with gold tinsel and an orange tail, throat, and wing to try on the St. Johns River this year.
Maryland Shad Fly #1 Pattern:
Hook: Size 10, 3x, 4x or 6x long (I chose 3x)
Tail: Red hackle feather barbs
Body: Silver Tinsel
Wing: Red Hackle Feathers
Beard: Red Hackle tied in wetfly style
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