Black Gnat

Black Gnat

Show

Tying Instructions

2. Attach 10-15 hackle fibers for the tail just behind the thread bump. The length of the tail should be equal to the hook shank. Attach a piece of floss for a butt.

3. Wrap the floss over the bump and covering the last third of the hook shank. Secure with thread wraps and trim the tag ends.

4. Twist the rabbit dubbing around the thread and start the dubbed body at the one third location on the shank.

5. Wrap a dubbed body to about 2 eye widths behind the eye.

6. Attach a collar hackle by the tip at the 3/4 position of the shank. The hackle fibers should not extend beyond the hook length.

7. Wrap the hackle 3-4 turns for a full collar appearance and secure.

8. Select two matching duck quill feathers. Remove two matching segments that are the width of your hook gap. Position the two segments back to back with the leading edge on top. The length should not exceed the hook shank. A little flexament on the fiber ends will help keep them from splitting. Attach the segments in front of the collar wrap and create a small head. Whip Finish.

Materials to Order Material, click the link
Hook	TMC 3761 #12-16
Thread	Danville Black 6/0
Butt	Red Floss
Body	Black Rabbit
Tail	Red Hackle Fibers
Wing	Natural Gray Duck Quill
Hackle	Black Hen Hackle

Dame Juliana Berners

Black Gnat

The Black Gnat is a traditional Classic Fly dating back to the times of Dame Juliana Berners in 1496. From her book,  A Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle (1496), the earliest known volume on sport fishing, Dame Berners described the use of Quill wings for creating wet flies that mimic the natural insects she studied.

Dame Juliana Berners

Berners was a noblewoman and prioress of the Sopwell Nunnery near St. Albans, Eng., during the late 15th century, but little is known or recorded about her life other than her writing and publication of the Treatyse. Many people credit her with the entirety of The Boke of Saint Albans which was printed in 1486 by an unknown schoolmaster at St Albans. It has no title-page.

The only clue to the authorship of the Treatise, and the only documentary evidence of her, is an attribution at the end of the original 1486 book that reads: “Explicit Dam Julyans Barnes in her boke of huntyng.” Her name was changed by Wynkyn de Worde to “Dame Julyans Bernes”.The Black Gnat is typically tied using a Natural Gray Duck Quill wing. It is in a class of Wet Flies that include the Royal Coachman, Coachman, and Leadwing Coachman, utilizing the Natural Quill wing.

Frederick Halford

Frederick Michael Halford was the first to adapt this pattern to a dry fly in 1885. His pattern was a thin body of a black chaffinch tail feather that was stripped. This created a body that was light, glossy, and non-adsorbent. He used matched slips of a pale starling wing quill for the wings set in a downward profile. In front of the wing he hackled with a cock starling. He noted that the female gnats had longer wings than the males and tied two versions accordingly. Halford primarily fish the river Test and studied the aquatic insects of the river.

He became obsessed with dry fly presentations rather than wet fly and suggested that if the North Country was identified by wet flies, the South Country with it’s chalk stream should be the home of dry flies. Over the next 20 years, Halford’s dogmatic views of dry fly fishing brought on “dry fly only” waters thoughout much of the South Country and were adapted within the Catskill region of New York by Theodore Gordon.

Gnats tend to be prolific near stillwaters, particularly around the reedbeds. They will rise in clouds above the reeds and will be blown into the water by wind. They are a member of the Fly family and lay their eggs within running water. The gnat larvae remain within the water for about ten days clinging to rocks before emerging. They are known for biting and can be called midges or no-see-ums.

Black Gnat, Dry

Hook	TMC 100 #14-18
Thread	Danville Black 6/0
Body	Black Superfine
Tail	Black Hackle Fibers
Wing	Natural gray duck quill
Hackle	Black Hackle