Hook Standard-length barbless dry fly, 14 (16-20 typical, up to 12)
Thread Tan 70 denier
Materials
Mallard or teal flank Barred natural mallard flank fibres (2 small bunches)
Hackle fibres Black hackle (About 8 for the tail)
Muskrat underfur Natural grey muskrat underfur (A small tuft, guard hairs removed)
Dry fly hackle Black hackle (1 feather)
Dry fly hackle Grizzly hackle (1 feather)
How to tie it
Start tan thread mid-shank. Take two small bunches of barred mallard or teal flank, pick feathers with fine barring, and put them together with the convex sides facing each other.
Tie the wings in about two eye-lengths behind the eye, judging the height so that when they are stood up they will match a hackle one and a half to two times the hook gap. Take a couple of tight wraps and snip the butts off behind.
Bring the thread to just behind the wings, pull them upright and take several wraps up under them to prop them at about 90 degrees.
Split the bunched wings: two wraps running back-to-front on one side, then two wraps front-to-back on the other, so they sit divided and slightly spent.
Take the thread back to the bend and tie in about eight black hackle fibres as a tail. Go long, Catskill-style dries in this vein carry a noticeably long tail. Snip the butts.
Wax the thread, cut a small tuft of muskrat, pull the guard hairs out and roll the underfur onto the thread. Dub a deliberately thin body forward to about the 65% point, leaving room for the collar hackle.
Tie in a black and a grizzly dry fly hackle together, barbs one and a half to two times the hook gap, with the grizzly positioned to be wrapped first. Take a couple of wraps in front of the wings to secure both stems.
Wrap the grizzly first, two turns behind the wings and two in front, for a slightly grizzly-dominant collar, tie off and trim the stem.
Zigzag the black hackle up through the grizzly, again two turns behind the wings and two in front, and tie off. Start the hackle further back than feels natural or you will run out of room.
Whip finish, trim, and clean up any barbs crowding the eye with a singeing tool.