Fly Tying: Simple Wet Fly to Tie

In honor of and in response to…the early season mayflies and caddis: a simple wet/flymph (I don’t want to debate what a flymph is picky fly tiers!) here is a simple to tie fly pattern. 

The fly can be fished in the film (surface) or sunk for a straight or swung retrieve.

The ‘recipe’ or pattern for this very simple fly is as follows:

Size 14 heavy wire hook

Size 8/0 thread, black

Tail:  A half dozen strands of Zelon fibers to represent a trailing shuck

Abdomen: A simple thread body wound forward, back and forward over the  Zelon fibers up to the thorax area

Thorax: A spun collar of tan CDC fibers (Duck Butt feathers that float well)

Wing: One plus turns of a Starling feather so the tips of the feather reach back to the abdomen area.

Tying a Hairwing Dun-Emerger (But, a Well Known Caddis Pattern too)

I frankly never remember to tie these patterns. How simple while churning out dozens of Elk Hair Caddis (EHC) to simply tie the Hairwing Dun. Whether, the tail is a traditional split tail of hackle fibers or as I tied it with Zelon/Antron fibers, the pattern does well as a mayfly dry pattern (and a caddis too).

These were tied on a size 14 hook. The thread was tan 8/0. The tail was tan Zelon and the dubbing was a tan synthetic by Hareline Dubbin. The dubbing was twisted onto the thread and wrapped up the shank to satisfy the abdomen and thorax. Tan elk hair was cut from the hide, evened out in a hair stacker and tied in as a wing. Simple as that. No rib. A basic EHC wing for a mayfly pattern. This pattern satisfies the mayfly emerger/adult pattern needs.

Notice the identical wing for the EHC and the Hairwing Dun. Below is a Hairwing Dun tied with a traditional hackle barb tail I found at Smoky Mountain Fly Fishing. I must note what I took to be a nice experimental effort on my part has the same look as the famous Matthews X-Caddis…hmm…the complications of thinking you are original and realizing, as you would expect, others have been there..done that..and called it something else. Oh well..the wing is the issue here. The tail I have used conflicts with the renowned X-Caddis pattern. What can I say…it works for both.