Dark Dun

[tie2fish]

This is a relatively plain pattern which, according to Roger Fogg, first appeared in Michael Theakston's 1853 book, British Angling Flies. It apparently was dressed in both winged and hackled versions, with the hackle feathers coming from various locations on both grouse and domestic hens.

Hook: Size 14-12 (Daiichi 1530, #14)
Thread: Brown tying silk (Pearsall's Gossamer #17)
Hackle: Any small dark feather from a grouse or dark brown hen (upper covert from a red grouse wing)
Body: Well-waxed brown tying silk

[willowhead]

You SURE got "the touch" Bill.

[letumgo]

Elegant in it's simplicity. You couldn't hide a flaw in that dressing if you tried. Perfect.

[redietz]

Pritt called the same fly the Sandy Moorgame. He claimed "This is a very useful fly from May to the end of July, and is not to be neglected in a brown water clearing after a flood."

I tied a bunch of the over the winter and have yet to catch a fish on one, but then again I've tried them only in desperation.

Nice tie as usual.

[DUBBN]

The skill level of the tyers that frequent this board still amazes me. I too tie flys using only thread and hackle. They are usually referred to as "Guide Flys". Two minutes or less per fly. I am not a guide, but if I am taking a group of people and they are counting on me to provide flys, it is not uncommon for me to tie this style of fly. That being said, I dont worry about the looks so much. Your Dark Dun takes a simple style of trying and elevates it to.... for lack of a better word, "art". Thank you for the inspiration sir!

[William Anderson]

Bill, This is another beautiful spider. I tied some Sandy Moorgames, but didn't wax the thread. I took dry/wet comparitive pics to see the value change (as well as you can tell in a pic compared to on the stream) I would have to do side by side photography of the wet flies wet and waxed vs wet and unwaxed to tell, but I've wondered if the wax doesn't retard the darkening effect on some silk bodies. The brown turns almost black. The claret bodies darken some when waxed, but not as much as when wet. I can't imagine it would make any difference on the water, but it's something that I wonder about. Has anyone ever checked the value change in waxed vs unwaxed silk bodies when wet?

w

[Old Hat]

Just plain buggy, is what that fly is. Nice tying.

William, you're talking about waxing with some other wax than a cobbler's or colored wax right? I've always operated under the assumption (against the rules of assuming things) that the cobbler's wax would give you a pretty close indicator of the the thread color when wet. I may be way off on that. But, what I think you mean is if I wax the silk thread with a clear or semi-clear wax then would that subdue the color change when wet. I would guess yes, to some extent depending on how saturated the thread was with the wax. In effect, lightly saturating the wax could lead to interesting mottling in the fly body if this was true. You better get to work. I loved your feature with the wet and dry on your site by the way. The site is coming along very nicely.

[William Anderson]

Carl, thank you. I am talking about the medium/caramelish cobblers/beeswax tone. I know the darker version will darken lighter colored silk somewhat. But I need to do the tests and pics. It might be a while, but the best sites weren't built in a day (were they Donald?). I expect the difference between wet silk and waxed/wet silk will not be the same, but again...even if you could spot the difference, you'd be splitting hairs, which is interesting sometimes.