Bodkin / Patterns

Sparkle Dun

Dry Fly · Emerger · Trout · Grayling · Beginner · 3 versions

Sparkle Dun fly

Classic Recipe

  • Hook Standard dry fly, 14-20
  • Thread Olive or tan 8/0

Materials

  • Tail/Shuck Z-Lon or Antron yarn (trailing, sparse)
  • Body Dubbing to match (slender)
  • Wing Deer hair (fan-shaped)

How to tie it

  1. Mount hook, lay a base. Tie in a sparse Z-Lon shuck trailing half a shank length past the bend.
  2. Stack fine deer hair and tie it in at the 70% mark, fanned into a 180-degree arc over the top of the shank, Comparadun-style.
  3. Dub a slender body from the shuck to the wing, then a turn in front to prop the fan upright.
  4. Small head, whip finish.

Substitutions

  • Tail/Shuck instead of Z-Lon or Antron yarn: Antron yarn (amber) — Classic shuck material; Sparkle Yarn — More flash; CDC fibers — Natural, subtle
  • Wing instead of Deer hair: Coastal deer hair — More hollow, better flotation; Snowshoe rabbit foot — Incredible float, different look
  • Body instead of Dubbing to match: Olive Superfine — BWO match; Pale yellow Superfine — PMD match; Tan Superfine — Caddis/general

Other versions

2 more in the app: Fly Fish Food Tie, variant 1, Fly Fish Food Tie, variant 2.

Tying videos

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