Bodkin / Patterns

Shear Damsel

Dry Fly · Trout · Intermediate · 1 version

Reference Recipe

  • Hook Standard dry-fly hook, 10-12
  • Thread Tan or blue 8/0

Materials

  • Extended body Blue or tan 2mm foam over mono, or hackle-stem (1)
  • Wings Sheared/clipped grizzly hackle tips or organza (2 pair)
  • Thorax dubbing Blue or tan thorax dubbing (1 pinch)
  • Hackle Grizzly or dun hackle (1 feather)
  • Post (optional) Hi-vis white/orange foam or yarn (1 small tuft)

How to tie it

  1. Start thread at the 60% mark and build a short base.
  2. Tie in the extended-body material so it reaches roughly one and a half shank lengths past the bend, that long thin abdomen is the damsel's signature; bind it firmly and don't let it roll.
  3. If you want visibility, tie in a short upright post at the 60% mark.
  4. Lay in the sheared hackle-tip or organza wings and figure-8 them flat and spent to each side, angled slightly back.
  5. Dub a slim thorax through and around the wing roots.
  6. Wind the grizzly hackle a few turns through the thorax (parachute around the post if used), then trim the underside flat so the fly sits low.
  7. Whip finish at the eye, snip, and add a small drop of cement to the head and the body butt.

← All fly patterns