Gray duster

by

The gray duster was one of the first flies I tied. It was at a fly tying course at Illawarra Fly Fishers in Wollongong and this fly was selected because of its simplicity and of course the fact that it works. Over time my tie of a gray duster has been corrupted to be a sort of melding of the gray duster that I was first introduced to and an Adams irresistible. The original gray duster was designed as a midge cluster fly and consequently has no tail. The tie below is of the fist gray duster I was introduced to and what I understand to be the original tie. The link to my corrupted variant is as follows.

[example Link=”p=10056″ Title=”Chatto’s gray duster variant”]

Materials

Hook Thread Body Hackle
Dry fly Brown Gray rabbit underfur Badger

Process

A
  1. Wind the thread in touching turns to the bend of the hook.

    2. [member Link=”p=10018″ Title=”Understanding hooks”]

  2. Take a pinch of dubbing and load it onto the thread.

B
  1. Using the single strand dubbing technique build up a cigar shaped body on the rear 2/3 of the hook.

    2. [member Link=”p=2683″ Title=”Single strand dubbing method”]

  2. Tie a hackle in with dull under side facing forward just in front of the body.

    3. [member Link=”p=10008″ Title=”Dry fly hackle”]

  3. Take the thread forward to just behind the eye of the hook.

C
  1. Wind the hackle forward in touching turns. Note that because the dull under side of the hackle was facing forward when it was tied in the hackle barbules will slope slightly forward ‘dry fly style’.
  2. Tie the hackle off with a couple of firm wraps of thread.
  3. Using a blade trip the excess hackle.

D
  1. Build up a small but neat thread head.

    2. [member Link=”p=2838″ Title=”Neat thread heads”]

  2. Whip finish the thread and varnish the head.