In the early seventies, Idaho guide Bill Cowan used a similar, if even more minimalist, fly called the Hank of Hair - no body, just a deer hair wing with the butts clipped into a sort of thorax. It appeared in a 1971 issue of Flyfisher Magazine but never caught on for some reason. I expect it was just too simple for commercial fly tiers to take seriously or most fly shop customers to shell out good money for. - Bob Wyatt
I'm a fool for simple, minimalist flies. Less is always better and this fly is a good example of that belief. It first worked when I tried it out last Summer and it will be a mainstay in my fly box going forward.
The above fly is tied on a #16 curved emerger hook. The body is nothing more than one layer of thread (I don't think you even need that). Use fine deer hair for the wing and clip the butt ends down close. It is the fly's thorax.
You can make it size 20 or smaller by using snowshoe fur instead of deer hair.
Time to get your 2022 license and then book me!!!!!
Ken
8 comments:
Most fly fishers paying for flies would overlook this pattern kinda like that old hamburger ad "where's the beef?".
Anonymous,
Are you right?? Yes you are!!!
Ken
I like flies like this because one can use it to imitate caddis or mayfly emergence. Like I always say give it a nice presentation and let the trout decide what it is
Paul,
Well said!!
Ken
Ya I've been fly fishing for a few years and it seems like small solid colored dries have seemed to do the trick. and I strike out whenever I try to go fancy
It makes me wonder just how much the visible curved shank of the hook plays into everything. I mean, the deer hair wing is above the surface; the only thing that might trigger a response is either the hook itself, or a vague silhouette of the wing, outlined against the sky, riding in the film.
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Mike,
I think the wing/thorax profile is what gets them.
Ken
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