i ran out of dry fly hackle so i’m looking for your favorite dry flies that require no hackle. I love tying, so it really doesn’t matter if the pattern works perfect, but it would be nice if they do catch a few fish.
thanks
WWFF
Comparadun, Sparkle dun, X-caddis, Rogue stone for starters.
No hackle mayfly, Madam X
little midge size 22 with antron yarn wings, and a body of mohogony thread
trico spinner
JZ
WWFF,
Modern genetic hackle is really nice stuff but you can tie countless floating fly patterns without it using:
closed cell foam to make beetles, ants, hoppers, caterpillars, any bug you can think of and poppers. There are lots of sources of foam: packing materials, old flip flops etc.
hollow hair like deeer or elk to make any mayfly imitation in sparkle dun or comparadun (already suggested) or try an elk hair caddis but leave off the hackle. It floats lower in the film but sometimes that is just what the fish are looking for.
Snowshoe rabbit feet can be used to float a fly in a number of creative ways. The usual (try a size 20) is just a killer and there are lots of other patterns you can try.
Poly yarn can be used in alot of creative ways to float a fly.
See if you can get access to Lloyd Gonzales book “Fly-fishing Pressured Waters” or Ted Leeson and Jim Schollmeyer’s book “Emergers”.
Any Hair wing…those are my favorite
There was an article I think in the last Fly Tyer about no hackle drys. They used a thick bunch of mallard flank for a wing. The article stated that they float fairly well on their own with a thick wing, but a little floatant didn’t hurt. I’ve tied a few to try, but we are still iced up here.
Hey Warm water, you’ve already got some great suggestions. The sparkle duns and comparaduns are great patterns. Just vary the body dubbing and hook size to imitate whatever mayfly.
Elk Hair Caddis tied without hackle and an antron yarn shuck are also great, again just vary size and dubbing color to imitate different caddis. the shuck also helps float the fly.
Other materials not mentioned so far are CDC wings to float flies,especilly smaller ones.
You can also use poly yarn to tie spent wing mayfly spinner patterns, again just varying body color.
In addition to tying dries, all of these materials can be used to tie emergers and fished in the film.
Not having hackle is no excuse, keep tying!
good luck,
peregrines
I have also made my own hackle with squirrel hair in a dubbing loop. Brown squirrel makes great grizzly & Gray make a nice dun. …Bud
Hey WWFF look up Swisher and Richards side winder, a great no hackle low water pattern :!:
WWFF, Try the spun dun which is on FAOL in the fly archives. I have tried this style and it works quite well.
Here’s a tutorial for the No Hackle (duck quill wing):
http://www.danica.com/flytier/mlawson/
You could sub duck shoulder feathers for the wings; makes for an easier tie.
Regards,
Scott
The new Rene Harrop DVD has the No Hackle instructions…its very good.
http://www.danica.com/flytier/hweilenmann/cdcelk.htm
A fantastic pattern, has caught me a load of fish since I started using it about 18 months ago
i like to tie a version of what orvis calls the “doculator” http://www.orvis.com/store/product_choice.asp?pf_id=09A2&dir_id=1236&group_id=12939&cat_id=12940&subcat_id=12941 with a bigger foam wing and no hackle, and i like it (at least, for the stocker rainbows down here).
Take a look at this one. The site is in French, but the pictures are all you need.
http://ns33014.ovh.net/~dessaign/Lesmou … lievre.htm
