Silver Lake EB (Extended Body) Mayfly Illustrated Recipe By B. Moose Peterson
Last summer my son and I were floating on
our favorite lake in the Sierra when a huge
hatch emerged around us. One of the bugs landed
on my son’s sunglasses. He instantly placed it
in a bug box so we could bring it home. There
were so many bugs on the water that catching
anything with the flies we had was painful, so
that evening I went to creating an imitation of
the bug we caught. What you see here is the result
of that night’s tying. The next day when I tried
the fly, I instantly had a fish on. I ended up
catching 27 rainbows that evening. I was interested
in seeing both if the fly would catch fish and how
well it would last. This was the first time I had
tied or tried fishing with half-hackle wings which
look so fragile. It caught fish and I was pleasantly
surprised that one fly caught 6 trout before it was
no longer useable.
Don’t let the look of the fly scare you off from
tying it. It actually takes seconds to create once
you get making the wings down. It might seem complicated,
but there is only really a couple of steps to the whole
thing. I make a dozen tail sections first so I can just
crank out the completed fly. This fly was tied on a
size #18.
Materials List Silver Lake EB Mayfly:
Hook: 16-22 TMC 100.
Thread: Gray 8/0.
Tail: Black Micro-Fibbets.
Body: #16 Dark Dun Gray.
Hackle: Blue Dun.
Wing: Blue Dun Hackle.
Instructions - Silver Lake EB Mayfly:
- This fly is tied in two stages, first the
EB/tail and then the body. The EB/tail is tied
on a sewing needle. Place the needle in the vise
so the eye of the needle is in the vise. Start
your thread on the pointy end exactly how you
would start your thread on a hook. Make a couple
of wraps and then make a small bump to spread
the micro-fibbets.
Originally published January 12, 2004 on Fly Anglers Online by MP.