Bodkin / Patterns

CDC Transitional Midge

Dry Fly · Emerger · Trout · Grayling · Intermediate · 1 version

Rene Harrop, as tied by Matt Grobert

  • Hook Standard dry-fly hook (here a TMC 100), 18-22
  • Thread Olive 6/0 or 140-denier

Materials

  • Tail Grizzly neck feather
  • Wingcase/Wings/Head Dark natural CDC Puff
  • Body Natural Australian possum dubbing

How to tie it

  1. Use a TMC 100 dry fly hook, size 20. Mash the barb. Secure the hook in the vise. Fill a bobbin with 6/0 olive Danville thread.
  2. Attach the thread roughly a third of the way along the shank. Wrap back toward the bend. Cut or break off the tag. Finish with the thread hanging above the hook point.
  3. Pick one small hackle with a fine tip from the lower outer edge of a grizzly neck. Pull it off the skin. The better hackles toward the middle of the neck are not needed here. Place the hackle on top of the shank with its tip reaching about one shank length past the bend. Bind it down with thread wraps, keeping it on top of the shank. Stop the thread near the middle of the shank. Lift the butt of the feather and trim it close.
  4. Most of the rest of this fly comes from one dark natural CDC puff. Longer fibers on the puff are better. Carefully strip off any short fibers near the butt. Draw the fibers up so they lie parallel to the stem. Set the puff on top of the shank so the lower ends of the fibers, not counting the very butt, reach to the spot right ahead of the hook eye. Hold it there and bind the puff to the top of the shank with thread wraps. Keep wrapping back to the bend.
  5. Trim off the butt of the puff so the lower ends of the CDC fibers come free. Split the fibers into two roughly equal bunches, one each side of the hook. These form the emerging wings. Use the tips of the scissors to cut out only the stem.
  6. Use natural colored Australian possum dubbing for the body. Dub a very thin noodle onto the thread, only enough to color it. Wrap the body up the shank in touching turns. At the budding wings, push them back and make a few wraps ahead of them. Leave some bare shank behind the eye.
  7. Keep the wings split to each side. Draw the CDC tips forward over the hook eye to make the back, or wing case. Tie the fibers down ahead of the wings with a few tight thread turns. Whip finish with five or six turns and cut the thread. Lift the leftover fibers and trim them to leave a small head.

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