1. Start the thread at the 1/3 position behind the eye of the hook and lay a foundation to the bend of the hook.
2. Attach a section of Kinky Z-lon to the top of the hook shank at the bend of the hook. I’m using less than half of the original strand thickness.
3. Secure the tag end of the Z-lon on the top of the hook shank to the midpoint. Trim the shuck off the bend to about 3/4 the shank length.
4. Clip a small patch of comparadun deer hair.
5. Clean off the underfur and even the tips in a stacker.
6. Measure the hair against the shank length. the wing should be about the same as the shank length.
7. Attach the hair to the top of the shank with 2 tight wraps that will flare the hair.
8. Apply a few more wraps to lock the material in.
9. Lift up on the butt ends of the wing hair and clip these off with a slanted cut towards the rear. You can adjust the cut for the desired taper you want.
10. Wrap the butt ends of the wing with thread wraps, covering all of the butt hairs. Wrap to the tail tie-down position just above the barb of the hook to create a smooth tapered underbody of thread to the base of the wing. Separate about 1/3 of the hairs and apply a wrap of thread at the base of the hair to stand the hairs upright.
11.Take another 1/3 of the hair and place another tight thread wrap at the base of these hairs.
12. The last third of the hair is maintained in an upright position with thread wraps directly in front of them. Note that the shank is bare in front of the wing as this helps to bring pressure of the thread back against the hairs since it can slide up to the base of the wing.
13. Wrap the thread back to the bend of the hook.
14. Apply a small amount of Superfine dubbing to the thread and lock in the first fibers to the shank with a thread wrap. You can twist the dubbed thread for a tighter effect once those fibers are locked onto the shank.
15. Wrap the dubbing forward for an upward taper to the wing
16.Bring the thread in front of the wing and downward taper to the eye of the hook. You may need to X wrap the dubbing around the wing to fill the space below the wing.
17. Trim off the thread and whip finish. You can get an improved flare of the hair by applying pressure with your thumbnail at the base of the wing. Finished Fly.
The Pale Morning Dun mayfly is a major hatch for our Sierran streams and rivers. They are found heavily within Spring Creeks and tailwaters, preferring stabilized flows and streambeds with rooted vegetation. Often the nymphs tend to be within the riffles and runs, crawling on the bottom.
Life Cycle
The Pale Morning Dun begins its life cycle as a crawling type of nymph that crawls towards the streambanks before they swim clumsily to the surface when ready to “hatch”. The nymph actually splits just below the surface and the dun emerges completing it’s travel to the surface a few inches further. At the surface it takes some time, 7-10 minutes, for the wings to dry so that the dun can proceed out of the water for the nearest streamside vegetation. PMD’s are generally in the size 16-18. The duns molt into spinners for mating with the females depositing eggs usually in the late afternoon. Rarely is the spinner fall a focus for the trout as they tend to concentrate on the emerging dun during the hatch as large numbers are usually present on the water surface.
Hatches
Hatches usually begin in late May or early June and continue to the end of July or early August. The water temperature should be between 58-62 degrees F for a good hatch to take place. The hatch usually starts in late morning around 11:00am. If it is a bright, warm day the hatch might go on for only an hour or more. On cloudy days, the hatch might continue for 3-4 hours and be sporadic. The life cycle covers a full year, the nymph phase being close to 12 months while the dun/spinner phase is only 24 hours. Duns and Spinners will have 3 distinct tails, The females will be pale yellow on the back and a mix of pale yellow and pale olive on the underside. The males tend to have more of an amber coloration. Wings will also be pale yellow.
Patterns to consider
Within the dry fly category, we have Pale Morning Duns with the emergent forms such as the Sparkle Dun, Quilled Parachute Dun, Brooksprout, RS2, Quigley Cripple, Floating Nymph, and Hackle Stacker. The emergent forms are very important as the fish key upon this stage.
1. Flatten the barb of the hook with your vise and secure the hook at the bottom of the hook bend. Attach the thread at the 1/3 position of the hook shank wrapping a thread foundation to the bend of the hook.
2. Select about 6-8 stiff hackles from a spade hackle. You can procure these hackles from the sides of a cape or purchase a tailing pack with these hackles.
3. The length should be slightly longer than the hook shank. Attach the tailing fibers at the bend of the hook and wrap the tag ends to about the 1/3 position. Clip off the tag ends of the tailing fibers.
4. Select a 1/4 inch section of Turkey T-Base for the wingpost. Note how the T-base has a flat and even tip. You should clip this section with a cut that is parallel to the tips.
5. Keeping the tips aligned, roll the segment and position the tie-down at the area in front of where you trimmed the tailing butts. The wing post should be the length of the hook shank.
6. A.K. likes to hold the segment at a 45 degree downward angle in front of the shank. With 2 soft thread loops, the bundle will position itself on top of the shank upon tightening the thread.
7. Trim the butt ends of the T-Base and wrap to cover the clipped butts.
8. Try to wrap an even taper. Lift the wingpost tips and wrap 7-8 turns against the front of the wingpost to hold the wingpost upright.
9. Wrap 7-8 times around the base of the wingpost to give support to the hackle. This is easily done with a rotary vise rotating the wingpost towards you.
10. Select a hackle stem and clip the quill where the diameter of the quill is about the same as the diameter of the shank.
11. This clipped tip is then attached to the side of the hook shank and secured with thread wraps to the tail tie-off position.
12. Wrap the quill forward. At the wingpost, secure the quill with some tight thread wraps behind the wing post.
13. Then, bring the quill underneath and tie-off the quill in front of the wingpost.
14. Clip the butt and wrap over. Apply some UV Clear Fly Finish, Flow to the quill body.
15. Harden the coating with a UV lamp.
16. Select a stiff Dun Hackle about one size larger than the hook size. Clip three hook-eye lenths of fibers from the stem shiny-side up. This helps keep the fibers from twisting the hackle. Tie the butt end in front of the wingpost nearest you. Also put a couple of wraps around the base of the wingpost to anchor the hackle to the wingpost.
17. Build up a thread thorax and head covering the hackle and quill body butt ends.
18. Wrap the hackle 4-5 turns around the wingpost proceeding in a downwards direction. Wrap the thread at the base of the wingpost just above the tag end of the hackle 2-3 times to secure the hackle wraps.
19. Bring the hackle tip over the hook eye and underneath the thread. Bringing the thread over the hackle tip will lock the hackle into place. Wrap the thread around the hackle tip two more times before trimming the tip. Lift the hackles from above the hook eye and wrap to further secure and cover the hackle tip. Apply 2-3 half hitches.
20. Apply some head cement at the head and also at the base of the wingpost. The finished Quill Parachute, BWO.
1. Attach the thread to the 1/3 position of the shank.
2. Tie in about a dozen Z-lon fibers for a shuck, don’t worry about the length we will trim that later.
3. Wrap the Z-lon with even thread wraps to the midpoint of the hook curve and trim the butts.
4. Trim the Z-lon shuck so that it is about the same as the hook gap.
5. Prepare a stripped Ostrich Quill be removing the fibers with an eraser.
6. Attach the stripped Black Ostrich herl by the tip on top of the hook shank and secure with thread wraps to the shuck tie-in location. Wrap the stripped Black Ostrich herl to the 3/4 position of the shank and secure with a couple of thread wraps. Trim off the tag end.Tie in the 1/16 Round Rainy foam. The height of the foam should be about the hook gap.
7. Wrap the stripped Black Ostrich herl to the 3/4 position of the shank and secure with a couple of thread wraps. Trim off the tag end.
8. Apply a UV flow fly finish to the quill body to protect the quill from breakage.
9. Use a UV lamp to harden the coating.
10. Tie in the 1/16 Round foam at the tip of the foam just behind the eye of the hook. Use 4-5 tight wraps.
11. Place a few wraps behind the foam post to lift it up. Apply some thread wraps to the base of the post anchoring the thread in front of the post on the hook shank.
12. Apply some more thread wraps at the base of the foam for a hackle post that is about the same length as the eye of the hook. Bring the thread in front of the post behind the eye.
13. Attach a Black Hackle by the butt to the side of the hook shank in front of the foam wingpost. The hackle should be bare along the foam post so that you can secure the hackle butt with thread wraps up the the top of the foam post that was created. No hackle fibers should be trapped while secure the butt end of the hackle. Dub a thorax with the Superfine. Wrap a parachute hackle with 3-4 wraps. Tie down and trim. Apply a few half hitches. The foam post can be trimmed further if desired. Finish the fly with an application of head cement behind the eye.
14. Apply Superfine dubbing to the thread, you don’t need much.
15. Dub a thorax with the Superfine both in front and behind the foam wing post.
16. Wrap a parachute hackle with 3-4 wraps. Secure the hackle with 3 tight wraps at the base of the foam post between the hackle fibers and the tag end of the hackle.
17. Leaving the thread hanging down keeping tension, trim off the tag end of the hackle. Apply a few half hitches. The foam post can be trimmed further if desired. Finish the fly with an application of head cement behind the eye.
18. Apply a few half hitches.
19. The foam post can be trimmed to about the same length as the hook gap.
20. Finish the fly with an application of head cement behind the eye.
1. Attach the hook to the vise and build a thread base from midway on the shank to the position where the tail fibers will be attached on the hook.
2. Attach two microfibbets for a tail. The tail length should be about the same as the shank. Place the microfibbets near the top of the shank against the side of the shank facing you. Place two thread wraps around the material to secure. The tension of the thread wraps will bring the material to the top of the shank.
3. Secure the microfibbets with thread wraps to the top of the shank ending at the bend of the hook.
4. Apply two wraps of thread under the tailing material, then split the microfibbets by taking a wrap between the fibers and over the top of the hook shank.
5. Two more tight wraps over the thread will secure it.
6. Apply some thin Fly Finish to the base of the microfibett tail. This provides durability and strength to the separation of the tail fibers.
7. Use a UV Lamp to cure the finish.
8. Normally, the long strands of beaver dubbing will create a nice rope on a single thread. Since much of our beaver dubbing is processed with smaller fibers, you might find improvement using a dubbing loop. Creat a dubbing loop at the base of the tail.
9. Apply a sparse amount of dubbing to the loop. The spinner tool will close the loop and twist the thread into a chenille.
10. Spin the tool clockwise so that the material forms a noodle.
11. Apply one wrap of the noodle over the shank to lock in the fibers. Now, further spin to form a tighter noodle. The more twisting you do, the tighter the noodle and you will be able to wrap a better segmented body.
12. Wrap the dubbing forward for a tapered body to the 3/4 position. Try not to overlap so that each wrap represents a segment to the abdomen.
13. Clip the webbing material from the base of a Dun Saddle Hackle. This is the soft marabou material.
14. Attach the clump with the trimmed stems facing over the eye with 2 tight thread wraps. Clip off the material over the eye and secure wirht 4-5 additional wraps.
15. Apply some more dubbing to the thread and create a tight noodle by twisting the material clockwise around the thread.
16. Wrap the dubbing around both sides of the wing material.
17. Finish with some thread wraps behind the eye and a whip finish.
18. Place your scissors at an upward slant and trim the wing so that it doesn’t exceed the diameter of the thorax.
1. Cut a piece of Olive Hollow Tubing, Standard size about 3/4″ in length. Slip three microfibetts inside. (You may have to do this one at a time, it’s a small hole). By evening the butt ends, the tips should be even and adjust the fibetts to the length you desire. 1/2″ to 3/4″ is good.
2. Place the tubing in a serrated pliers. (I’m using a leatherman tool). Be sure that all of the tubing is within the pliers. The microfibett tails will be hanging out the end of the jaws. Place a flame at the base of the pliers for a short time interval, 10-15 seconds. Do not allow the flame to get near the microfibetts, they’ll shrivel at once.
3. Place the scud hook in the vise and attach the thread behind the eye laying a small thread foundation for the extended body.
4. Attach the body to the hook shank. I adjusted the length of the body to be about 3/8 inches. Note the markings from the heated pliers leaving a segmented appearance. The marks will be more pronounced toward the tip of the body since the thinner portion of the plier jaws will convey heat more quickly.
5. Next, place a drop of superglue to the thread wraps that attach the body. Use a bodkin needle to smooth out the drop evenly over the wraps. Make sure that no glue gets over the eye of the hook.
6. Separate the fibetts and apply another drop of glue to the base of the fibetts where they emerge from the tubing. Again, use a bodkin to apply and spread the glue evenly to the area.
7. Select two Hen Cape Hackles and remove the basal fibers from the bottom of the quill until you get the length you desire. The hackle length equalling the length of the extended body is a good proportion.
8. Attach the hackles with the shiny side facing outwards, to the top of the tubing about midway on the shank.
9. Wrap the thread behind the pair of hackles to prop them in a vertical position. Apply a couple wraps in front of the pair to keep them from going forward. Trim off the butts of the quills and secure with some additional thread wraps.
10. Next, split the two hackles into a 45 degree angle by applying an x-wrap of thread between the pair. Do this with only a few wraps at the base.
11. Attach a dry fly hackle by the exposed quill to the side of the shank facing you. This should be behind the hackle wings with the dry fly hackle fibers facing upwards. You want the shiny side of the hackle facing the front of the fly as you wrap forward.
12. Apply some Superfine Dry Fly Dubbing to the thread at the base of the thorax. Use only a small amount of material and push the twisted fibers up the thread to the shank. Give one wrap to lock these fibers in and you can twist the material further for more compactness.
13. Wrap a tight body on each side of the wings. Don not crowd the eye. This dubbing forms the base in which we will wrap the hackle around.
14. Wrap the hackle with three wraps behind the wings and three wraps in front of the wings. Secure the hackle from beneath the hook behind the eye. You can minimize trapping fibers by pulling the hackle upwards and locking in the quill with the first thread wrap, then bring the hackle downwards to allow the thread to go over the exposed quill without trapping the top fibers. Do this technique about 3 times to ensure a good anchor.
15. Trim off the excess hackle and secure with some thread wraps behind the eye. Whip Finish.
1. Attach the thread to the 1/3 position of the shank.
2. Tie in about a dozen Z-lon fibers for a shuck, don’t worry about the length we will trim that later.
3. Wrap the Z-lon with even thread wraps to the midpoint of the hook curve and trim the butts.
4. Trim the Z-lon shuck so that it is about the same as the hook gap.
5. Prepare a stripped Ostrich Quill be removing the fibers with an eraser.
6. Attach the stripped Black Ostrich herl by the tip on top of the hook shank and secure with thread wraps to the shuck tie-in location. Wrap the stripped Black Ostrich herl to the 3/4 position of the shank and secure with a couple of thread wraps. Trim off the tag end.Tie in the 1/16 Round Rainy foam. The height of the foam should be about the hook gap.
7. Wrap the stripped Black Ostrich herl to the 3/4 position of the shank and secure with a couple of thread wraps. Trim off the tag end.
8. Apply a UV flow fly finish to the quill body to protect the quill from breakage.
9. Use a UV lamp to harden the coating.
10. Tie in the 1/16 Round foam at the tip of the foam just behind the eye of the hook. Use 4-5 tight wraps.
11. Place a few wraps behind the foam post to lift it up. Apply some thread wraps to the base of the post anchoring the thread in front of the post on the hook shank.
12. Apply some more thread wraps at the base of the foam for a hackle post that is about the same length as the eye of the hook. Bring the thread in front of the post behind the eye.
13. Attach a Black Hackle by the butt to the side of the hook shank in front of the foam wingpost. The hackle should be bare along the foam post so that you can secure the hackle butt with thread wraps up the the top of the foam post that was created. No hackle fibers should be trapped while secure the butt end of the hackle. Dub a thorax with the Superfine. Wrap a parachute hackle with 3-4 wraps. Tie down and trim. Apply a few half hitches. The foam post can be trimmed further if desired. Finish the fly with an application of head cement behind the eye.
14. Apply Superfine dubbing to the thread, you don’t need much.
15. Dub a thorax with the Superfine both in front and behind the foam wing post.
16. Wrap a parachute hackle with 3-4 wraps. Secure the hackle with 3 tight wraps at the base of the foam post between the hackle fibers and the tag end of the hackle.
17. Leaving the thread hanging down keeping tension, trim off the tag end of the hackle. Apply a few half hitches. The foam post can be trimmed further if desired. Finish the fly with an application of head cement behind the eye.
18. Apply a few half hitches.
19. The foam post can be trimmed to about the same length as the hook gap.
20. Finish the fly with an application of head cement behind the eye.
1. Attach the thread behind the eye and lay a thread foundation to the bend of the hook.
2. At the bend of the hook, create a small bump of thread to help splay the tail fibers. Select 4-5 tailing fibers with the tips even and secure just in front of the bump with two thread wraps. Pull the tag ends until the tail length is equal to the shank length.
3. Place your thumbnail under the tailing fibers to splay them, then secure with 3-4 tight wraps just in front of the bump.
4. Wrap the thread forward securing all of the tag end up to the thorax position. Trim off the reamaining tag ends.
5. Wrap back to the tail and dub a small amount of Super Fine dubbing around the thread. Wrap the dubbed thread around the shank once to secure the fibers to the shank, then twist the dubbing around the thread to tighten the material.
6. Wrap the dubbing forward into a tapered body, stopping at the 3/4 position where the thorax will be.
7. Select two plumes of CDC with the tips even. Place the plumes on top of the hook shank and secure with two thread wraps at the 3/4 position.
8. Grasp the tag ends of the two CDC Plumes and pull the material until the tips are about one shank length long. Then secure with a couple of tight thread wraps.
9. Wrap the thread in front and behind the CDC to lift the material into a vertical position.
10. Trim the rear tag end at a slant cut where the inner fibers are almost as long as the front section,
11. Secure some additional dubbing to the thread for a thorax.
12. Wrapping the dubbed thread in a figure eight around the CDC plumes will lift the material into a vertical position. Wrap a small thread head and whip finish.