Jack Gartside created Sparrow as a nymph and it was his favourite subsurface pattern. I find it great for both deep or surface fishing. One of the key ingredients in his flies was pheasant. He used the whole skin and the aftershafts most of all. This fly really lives under water and can imitate many aquatic insects, even a little minnow. It is the fly to use when you don´t know what else to use. All except for the body is from pheasant. The body in the original pattern was made from a blend of squirrel, rabbit and antron. I use whatever dubbing I have in front of me at the time of tying. I like to tie it on the TMC 2312 hook. If you tie it with bead-chain eyes it becomes The Salty Sparrow…
you can use just the feather.
pinch some fluff for the tail.
palmer the rest forward.
wrap the spade like a soft hackle.
using bead chain eyes and natural pheasant tied on #6 octopus hooks ,it makes a great carp fly.
i’ve hybridized the sparrow and the briminator into an all-purpose fly.
Interesting! I am going to try for carp this season…Thanks for commenting!