Materials:

Hook: Standard dry size 10 to 14 

Thread: Yellow 6/0

Tail: Gray mottled Coq de Leon

Wing: Medium Grey Deer Hair

Dubbing: Light gray rabbit mixed with a touch of teased pink yarn

Instructions:

Mash down the barb of the hook and place it in the vice.

Run thread from behind the eye until you get half way along the shank.

Remove the tag end of the thread and reverse the thread back towards the eye until you are half way back along the thread path.

Cut off about 1/8th inch clump of the deer hair and place it in your hair stacker.

Hit the stacker on the bench four or five times then remove the top of the stacker horizontally.

Gently remove the hair tips and brush out the short underfur with a comb.

Measure the hair to the length of the hook shank then hold it firmly on top of the thread tie-in point.

This is the most delicate stage of the pattern; I find it useful to wax the thread and also the top of the thread on the hook shaft.

Make several wraps of thread whilst firmly holding the hair in position.

Increase the tension of the thread as you wrap backward.

Try to reposition the hair on top of the hook shank as you do this.

Trim the butts of the hair.

The trim should be in a more horizontal plane than in my next picture, to avoid producing a hump.

Continue winding the thread towards the bend of the hook and correct the taper with extra thread wraps.

Take several barbules from a coq de leon feather and tie them in above the hook barb.

Cut off the ends of waste from the tail fibers.

The dubbing should be a light gray with just a hint of pink.

Use your imagination to achieve this.

I used some natural rabbit dubbing and mixed it thoroughly with a pinch of teased pink yarn.

Dub from the base of the tail towards the base of the hair.

Make a few wraps of thread in front of the hair to create a dam.

This will hold the deer hair in an upright position.

Apply more dubbing to the front of the fly so that there is a reverse taper at the eye.

Whip finish and apply a touch of cement to the head of the fly.

You are DUN!

david williams