DRY FLIES

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The Caenis Dun is a generic representation for members of the “Caenidae” family of Mayflies.  The Caenidae family are the miniatures of the Mayfly family and include the smallest of the mayflies. Caenis Duns are often referred to as “the anglers curse” because they are often very small and because the Dun stage of their life cycle is as short as only 20 seconds. When Caenis Duns are emerging they are often mistaken for midges and smut flies. Midges are part of the Chironomidae family of true flies whereas Smut flies are an entirely different species and are in fact “Aquatic Bugs” of the order Hemiptera.

If you have a look at Caenis Duns there are fundamentals of shape that are common across the species and captured by this pattern. The tail consists of only three filaments; the body starts thin and is then cigar shaped with 9 distinct segments. They have 6 legs and wings faces back at about a 60 degree angle. The common colours are grey and brown and when they are hatching the vision is of very small single winged sailing boats on the water.  I generally only carry Caenis Duns in size #16 but if I had eyesight that would allow me to tie smaller versions I would probably also carry size #18 Caenis Duns.
 

COMMON NAMES SIZE DRESSING

GREY #14 - #18 Dress as for an Adams.
BROWN #14 - #18 As detailed below.
 

MATERIALS:

Hook Size - 14 to 18 light gauge long shank
Thread - Brown
Tail - Hackle fibres
Rib - Very thin round gold tinsel
Body & thorax  - Brown / grey dubbing
Wings - Brown / grey
Hackle - Brown / grey

A.    Wind on the thread in touching turns from the eye to the bend of the hook Tie in a tail about as long as the hook shank consisting of only three to six Pheasant hackle fibres Tie in a length of thin round tinsel.
B. Dub on a thin cigar shaped body on the back two thirds of the hook shank Wind the gold tinsel over the dubbed body to form up to 9 ribs Tie the gold tinsel off and trim.
C. Tie in two matching hackle wing tips directly in front of the dubbing so that one is on each side of the hook and they face over the back of the hook at a 60 degree angle with only a small gap between the tips of the feathers Tie in the hackle (or hackles in case of an “Adams” dressing) directly in front of the wings.
D. Dub the last third of the hook making it just marginally thicker than the body. Remember to leave a little room at the eye of the hook to tie off and whip finish Pick up the hackle (or hackles) and wind it over the thorax to the eye of the hook with turns that don’t touch. This hackle represents the legs and as there are only six legs its important to get a balance between fly buoyancy and overdressing. Tie the hackle or hackles off and trim the butt end/s. Build up the head, whip finish and varnish.