Catskill Drys

Blue Wing Olive

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Tying Instructions

Tying Instructions: Catskill Dry, BWO

1. Attach the hook to the vise and attach your thread just behind the eye. Wrap to the 1/2 position on the shank and, then, back to the 1/3 position. This is where you will attach the wing.

2. Choose two hen hackle tips which are about the twice the hook gap in width. Try to select hackles that have a squared tip rather than a narrow taper. The length of the wings should be from the eye to the bend of the hook.

3. Sweep the barbs back from the hackle to the desired length. Place the two hackles back to back with the curve of the hackles opposing each other. Keep the wing tips even. Place the two hackles on top of the shank with the clean quill, exposed from the swept barbs, directly over the tie down position. Apply two pinch wraps to secure the hackle to the tie down position.

4. Add a couple of tight wraps and trim off the butt ends.

5. Wrap the thread forward and hold the hackle tips back while building thread wraps in front of the hackle. This will allow the hackle to stand upright.

6. Utilize some “x” wraps to divide the hackle tips.

7. Wrap the thread back to the tail tie-in position.

8. Select some tailing fibers from a spade hackle keeping the tips even. Measure the tailing fibers so that they are equal to the hook shank.

9. Place the tailing bundle against the hook shank and let the thread tension bring the bundle to the top of the shank. Secure with two to three additional wraps.

10. Wrap the thread forward securing the tail bundle to the top of the hook shank. Near the base of the wing, lift the tag end of the tail fibers and trim off. Wrap the thread covering all of the tail fibers.

11. Bring the thread back towards the tail tie in position and apply a small amount of dubbing to the thread. Wrap back to the tail tie in position so that the dubbing will just start at that position.

12. Wrap the dubbing forward for a tapered body stopping just behind the wings.

13. Bring the thread in front of the wind. Attach a sized hackle with the butt end in front of the wing. The quill of the hackle should face you. Secure the butts with thread wraps in front of the wings.

14. Bring the hackle back to crease the quill in front of the wing. Then wrap the hackle in front of the wing and behind it. Wrap the hackle back forwards with wraps behind and in front of the wing. Lift the hackle to secure with a couple of thread wraps.

15. Clip off the hackle tag end and cover with thread wraps. Create a small head and whip finish.

Materials to Order Material, click the link
Hook	TMC 100 #16-20 or Daiichi 1180 #16-20
Thread	Danville Flymaster 6/0 Light Olive
Body	Blue Wing Olive Superfine
Tail	8-12 Medium Dun Spade Hackle Fibers
Wing	Dun Hen Hackle Tip
Hackle	Med. Dun Hackle

Catskill Drys

The Catskill dries are a traditional pattern from the Catskill Region of Upper New York. They are variations of earlier British Chalkstream patterns, particularly those of Frederic Halford. The Catskill Dries represent mayflies with a hackle fiber tail, thin bodies, upright wings and hackle collars. The use of hackles are much heavier and stiffer than their British counterparts due to the more turbulent water of the Catskills needing better floatation. Thus, our Wulff patterns became even more heavily hackled with thicker bodies for our larger Western streams.

Theodore Gordon

Early American fly tiers, such as Theodore Gordon (photo at right), began tying the Catskill pattern in the late 1800’s with his Quill Gordon. Gordon is considered the American “Father of the Dry Fly” , a title shared by his counterpart Frederick Halford in Great Britain. The two were actually close friends and Halford introduced Gordon to the dry flies he was using in Britain with a large sample of flies sent in February 22, 1890. It was soon evident that Halford’s flies would need to be adapted to the wilder rivers and streams of the Eastern United States.

Afterwards, Gordon set out to design his own patterns with the Quill Gordon, Light Cahill, March Brown, Gray Fox, and the fan wing Royal Coachman. These dressings are rather sparse with thin tapered bodies and stiff, glossy hackles. The favored wing material was the lemon barred side of the wood duck. The tails are also stiff, glossy hackles that would lift the fly well above the water surface.  Accordingly, this was an aspect that Halford insisted upon as well.

Early American Tiers

The pattern style continued with Rueben Cross, who developed the Catskill hackling technique of wrapping the hackle on both sides of the wing. This hackling technique was followed by Walt Dette and Harry Darbee in the 1920’s. Consequently, Catskill Dries became very effective in the smaller creeks and streams and was particularly useful within the Sierra. Probably the most famous Catskill Dry is the Adams by Leonard Halladay, which tends to be considered an attractor dry but also is a good choice for gray drakes and small gray duns.

Important Catskill Dries

Important Catskill Dries for the Sierra are the Blue Wing Olive (BWO and Green Drakes) and the Light Cahill (Sulfurs and Pale Morning Duns) named after Dan Cahill, a railroad brakeman and an accomplished fly tier in 1880.  The Light Cahill pattern was later modified by Theodore Gordon.  Other important Catskill dries, as well, are the Red Quill (March Browns and Mahogany Duns) created by Art Flick in 1933, and the Quill Gordon by Theodore Gordon in 1890.

Quill Gordons actually do not reside within the Sierra (they are an Appalachian Mayfly). However, the pattern makes a great attractor mayfly pattern on sierran streams and are similar to Mahogany Duns.

Fishing the Catskill Drys

Most mayflies emerge from the bottom of the streambed and swim to the surface.  Once at the surface, the wings will spread out and the mayfly is considered to be in the dun stage.  Thus, a Hare’s Ear Wet Fly does a good job in matching the emergent stage, using a Leisenring Lift to mimic the swimming action.

The dry flies represent the dun stage after the mayfly reaches the surface. Often these duns get caught in eddies where the larger trout will anticipate an easy meal. Other promising areas are the feeding lanes within the lower sections of pools. Trout often hold in front of a boulder in this section sipping the duns as they drift to them. Consequently, the presentation of the fly needs to be cast at least 2 feet above the boulder location from a position at least ten feet below the boulder. Be sure to hold the rod tip high to minimize drag.

Hatches

Many of the duns hatch during the midday when the water warms up. Afterwards, during the late afternoon, mayflies will become involved in egg-laying and some will become trapped within the water film as Spinners. Both Spinner patterns and the Catskill patterns will work during this time period. The Mahogany Duns (Paraleptophebia) will often hatch in the Spring (April and May) but also in the Fall (September and October) within the slow eddies when the water temps reach about 50 degrees. You will find that our Sierra Mahogany Duns tend to be larger sizes of 12-16.

Light Cahill

Hook	TMC 100, #12-20
Thread	Uni-thread 8/0 Light Cahill
Body	Light Cahill Superfine
Tail	Light Ginger Spade Hackle Fibers
Wing	Dyed Mallard Flank Woodduck, upright and divided
Hackle	Light Ginger

Red Quill

Hook	TMC 100, #12-18
Thread	Danville Flymaster 6/0 Olive
Body	Red Quill Body
Tail	Med. Dun Spade Hackles
Wing	Dyed Mallard Flank Woodduck, upright and divided
Hackle	Med. Dun

Quill Gordon

Hook	TMC 100, #12-16
Thread	Danville Flymaster 6/0 Tan
Body	2 Stripped Peacock Quill
Thorax	PMD Superfine
Tail	Medium Dun Spade Hackle Fibers
Wing	Dyed Mallard Flank Woodduck, upright and divided
Hackle	Med Dun

Mahogany Dun

Hook	TMC 100, #12-16
Thread	Uni-Thread 6/0 Dark Brown
Body	Stripped Furnace Quills
Tail	Coq de Leon Tailing Fibers Medium Pardo
Wing	Natural Mallard Flank, upright and divided
Hackle	Golden Badger Hackle