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The Grey Duster
The grey duster is another general fly that can suggest many different insects you will find on the water. Some say that it is most effective in the evenings - the white barbs with the dense black centre of a good badger cock hackle remaining visible when the light is beginning to fade. But it works all day too. It is good when there are midges on the water, but tie it with a tail and it will take fish when upwings are about too. For the tail, use a few longer barbs from a larger badger cock hackle.
Here we dub the body using rabbits underfur - the soft fur beneath the guard hairs that is bluey-grey in colour. This must be the easiest material in the world to work with. However, if you prefer, a synthetic dubbing can be used instead.
You can buy all the tools and materials you need to tie this fly here.
Ingredients
Hook: Dry fly hook, size 12 - 18. Here we use a Tiemco 103BL hook. This is a barbless hook and the wide gape makes is particularly easy to unhook - very useful for catch and release waters.
Thread: Black
Body: rabbit's underfur or some synthetic dubbing of the same colour.
Hackle: Badger cock
Here we dub the body using rabbits underfur - the soft fur beneath the guard hairs that is bluey-grey in colour. This must be the easiest material in the world to work with. However, if you prefer, a synthetic dubbing can be used instead.
You can buy all the tools and materials you need to tie this fly here.
Ingredients
Hook: Dry fly hook, size 12 - 18. Here we use a Tiemco 103BL hook. This is a barbless hook and the wide gape makes is particularly easy to unhook - very useful for catch and release waters.
Thread: Black
Body: rabbit's underfur or some synthetic dubbing of the same colour.
Hackle: Badger cock
1: Wind the thread in touching turns to the hook-bend.
2: Form a dubbing rope with the rabbit's underfur.
3: Wind the dubbing body to a point just before the hook-eye, leaving room to wind the hackle.
4: Tie in the badger cock hackle, binding down the stem as you wind towards the hook-eye.
5: Make two or a mazimum of three turns of the hackle, and bind down with three turns of thread. Slip the slit drinking straw over your thread and thenover the hackle, to keep the barbs out of the way while you tie off.
6: Form a head with a few turns of thread if it needs it, and tie off with a three turn whip finish.
Next in the series Simple Sedge
Next in the series Simple Sedge