This fly has it’s origins based on my non bead-head inch nymph fly that I started tying over 20 years ago. For about 10 years now I have been tying this bead-head version in in black, dark olive, Adams colours, claret and brown. It’s a great buggy looking fly and one of the on-going inclusions in my nymph fly box.
Where I fish, as the water warms up closer to lunch time your often find fish actively rising to March Brown Mayfly that are a mottled chocolate and dark grey in colour. I fish them in lakes to targeted rising fish, as a polaroiding fly and also as part of a loch style team and in river I find them a great swinging fly when fish are taking emergers just below the surface.
This is an incredible fly for delicate presentations to mayfly feeders … the waters of the Korka had mayfly hatching but I was having trouble in finding a fly that didn’t spook them. Remembering that browns were behaving in a similar way in the training session I mentioned above I swapped over to the plume and ultimately did pretty well for the session coming in 10th out of 28 competitors.
I use this fly to represent mayflies that are members of the Leptophlebiidae classification of mayflies which includes the Highland Dun and Olive Dun and also the Kosciuszko Dun which is a member of the Coloburiscidae classification of the Mayfly family.
If you have a look at Caenis Duns there are fundamentals of shape that are common across the species and captured by this pattern. The tail consists of only three filaments; the body starts thin and is then cigar shaped with 9 distinct segments. They have 6 legs and wings faces back at about a 60 degree angle. The common colours are grey and brown and when they are hatching the vision is of very small single winged sailing boats on the water.
The Iron Blue Dun is a standard hackled classic that has a permanent home in most UK dry fly-fishers fly boxes. Its also considered a staple fly in many Australian and New Zealand dry fly boxes. It is representative of the male dun and the hatches occur throughout the season.
The Twilight Beauty trout fly is a popular dry fly and a good adult mayfly imitation. It as the names suggests works best in the evening and in particular on warm still evenings when mayflies are hatching. There are many versions of this popular and effective fly ranging from dark forms as in the recipe below to much lighter and grayer versions.
The Quill Gordon is a standard hackled classic that has a permanent home in most UK dry fly-fishers fly boxes. Its also considered a staple fly in many Australian and New Zealand dry fly boxes. It is representative of the male dun and the hatches occur throughout the season.
