Blue Dun Hackle?

[Luke McLeod]

I have noticed that several of the traditional flies I have been looking to tie call for Blue Dun dry hackle. Does anyone know of a supplier? I looked at Conranch, Whiting and H&H's sites but found none. Would this be what is referred to as Lt. Dun? Thanks again. Luke

[Fontinalis]

Hi Luke:

When it comes to Dun there is Dun, then a much darker shade called DarK Dun and last a lighter sharde called a Lite Blue Dun. Dun various in color, so you need to know which shade of Dun that you want to tye with. Hope this helps a bit

Go to the following link. If he does not have it in stock he will order it for you. Nice person, good to deal with and knows his materials and a good tyer to boot.

http://www.jimsflyco.com/

Sincerely
Andy Brasko

[DG]

Luke, Whiting sells dun in their 100-packs. I recommend going this route rather than investing in a whole cape or saddle, since this is not a color you will likely be tying a lot of flies with, unlike grizzly or brown. I bought a nice dun #18 100-pack several years ago, and at the rate I was using it up, was on track to get 200 BWO thorax out of it, when I sort of gave up on hackle. Talk to me in chat.
DG

[Gandolf]

Hi Luke,

"Blue dun" is not such a common name any more. You see it listed that way more often in older tying books. Now they mostly call the same color by the name "dun" instead of blue dun. Same color, just different name.

You see dun listed as "dark dun", "medium dun", "light dun", etc., depending on how dark the color is, as was mentioned above. Light dun is quite a light color, and dark dun can be fairly dark, a little like the color a medium soft pencil makes on a piece of paper.

Several years ago Alan the Highlander pointed out that the term "Blue" as used in fly tying with regard to dun color very likely came from the obsolete Scottish word "blae" which used to mean a grayish color, but now more often is seen to mean a blue gray. At any rate, if Alan is correct, and I believe he almost certainly is, then blue dun (as in blae dun) actually means "gray gray."

Regards,

Gandolf

[Luke McLeod]

Thanks everybody, this works in my favor as I already have a half a Dun cape on the way in a combo pack. We'll see how light it is when it arrives. Luke

[sandfly]

8-25-09 059.jpgblue dun came from the blue Andalusian chicken color, Harry darbee raised these birds for tying. having a darbee dun in the day was having the best hackle raised..blue dun = slate in color..

[Donald Nicolson]

Gandolph and Alan are correct. A lot of old fly recipes are not very specific, you can use any of the modern dun shades, depending on your
preference.