Pickit Pin tryouts

  Been tempted to try this pattern for a while. so i thought I'd try tying it a few different ways. .
     First attempt, (bottom) fell off tick sized magnet I keep on my reel to hold flies, I was kinda pissed, because the cut tail, mid section hackle, and pheasant wings looked cool, i kinda thought it might work. it didn't .
     Second attempt, clockwise, used a sz. 16. think it was a dai-riki dry with the larger gauge wire. after a little research into the flies roots, it seemed appropriate to use materials that made it an authentic (kinda-sorta) picket pin. so, I used gopher. it was a red fur,  but I wanted the "emerger" qualities to show in this fly, cause' I'm kinda hung up on dries, so I used the fur fluff, which meant removing all the reddish hair tips... stupid. anyways, the tails are all brownish red (Ct. nutmeg)top, tan unders colored hackle tips, but where i got hung up was,,, honestly I couldn't find my red squirrel, I know what shape the hide is cut and everything, but i cant find it.   for the body I tried tying in a thin gauge (ultra-super-thin-stuff) copper, forming a dubbing loop with the pheasant hurl. i ended up with essentially a dubbing brush that i wrapped around the body before following up with the same hackle feathers as the tail.     The second fly broke off on a fish. (11x does that sometimes) 
     Third fly,  got a Fisher Cat substitution, simply because I hate the species and would like to put my contribution into the market, facilitating a demand to kill these animals. The more fisher cat I use, the more dedicated I feel towards the preservation of brook trout. this time, my body hackle was a separate, smaller feather, that was butt tied on. It worked much better. this little 8or9  incher thought so.

     Next time I tie the Pin, it's gonna be brown hackle tip tails, with the inside black, not white. the dubbing brush thing worked well, but made the hackle look like shit. maybe a copper weighted hook, with gold and brown transparent tinsel dubbing loop, so the butt tied hackle will stand up better.