Fly Tying a Sofa Pillow – Classic Stonefly or Salmonfly Trout Pattern

Created in the 1940s by Pat Barnes of West Yellowstone, Montana, the Sofa Pillow is a big stonefly or salmonfly imitation that has a proven record of success for the last eighty years. Try the lighter version with a yellow tail and body, and gray squirrel for the tail.

Hook: #6-10 3x long
Thread: Brown
Tail: Goose or duck slips
Body: Red floss
Wing: Red squirrel tail
Hackle: Brown dry

This pattern can be found in:

Randal Scott Stetzer’s “Flies, the Best One Thousand,” 1992, amzn.to/34Q15mp
Terry Hellekson’s “Popular Fly Patterns,” 1976, amzn.to/2L4IyvS
Dave Hughes, “American Fly Tying Manual,” 1986, amzn.to/3niNL1q

Savage Flies is a project with the mission of encouraging and teaching fly tying to as many people as possible. The channel is named after one of my western Maryland homewaters, the Savage River. I’ve been uploading at least three new videos a week (usually Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday).

Thanks for stopping by. Please let me know in the comments if you have any tying tips you would like to share or if you have any patterns you would like to see tied here.