DRY FLIES
HAIR WINGED
DUN
I tie a few hair winged
duns
but don't tie them as representations of any particular Dun or Spinner
(imago)
stage of any specific insect. They are however good “buggy” flies and
are readily
accepted by trout. Also because of the white calf tail wings there easy
to see
as light fades or in fast flowing water. I prefer the Royal Coachman to
the Royal Wulff because of the Golden Pheasant Tippet Tail as opposed
to the Deer Hair tail but like the Deer Hair Tail on the, Brown Wulff and Adams
Wulff. Their main function
is as an indicator fly fished in conjunction with a
second dry such as a small red tag, nymph or
stick caddis or as a
stand alone buoyant fly for use in fast water.
HAIR
WINGED ROYAL COACHMAN
The
Hair Winged Royal Coachman is an excellent
example of a hair winged dun. It evolved from origins in England of the
1800’s.
At that stage it was a simple wet fly with a Peacock herl body and
white wing.
The first step in its evolution, still in England, added the “Royal”
red middle
and a tail and then in America early this century the tail was changed
to
Golden Pheasant tippet and the wing was stood upright. In the 1930’s
Lee Wulff
introduced his classic Calf tail wings and a changed the tail to deer
hair.
Whilst the deer hair tail certainly makes the fly float better I still
prefer
the colours associated with the Pheasant Tippet Tail.
MATERIALS
ROYAL
COACHMAN:
Hook
-
10 to 18
Thread -
Black
Tail -
Golden
Pheasant
tippets or brown
Calf tail
Body
-
Peacock
Herl and Red Floss
Wings
-
White
Calf Tail
Hackle
-
Red
Cock
A)
- Wind the thread in touching
turns to the bend of
the hook.
- Take the thread back to 3/4 of the way toward the
eye of the hook and tie in a bunch of white calf tail hair for the
wings.
- Stand the calf tail up vertically and divide it
with a figure of 8 tie.
- Trim the butt end of the calf tail hair wing at an
angle to the hook shank so that there isn't any obvious ridge.
The
finished wings should
be around 1 1/2 to 2 times as long
as the gape of the hook and should face a little forward with the gap
between the wings being about 60 degrees.
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B)
- Tie in a tail of 8 to 10 Golden
Pheasant tippets to
form a tail extending beyond the bend of the hook a distance equal to
the length of the hook shank.
- Tie in 2 to 4 strands of Peacock herl using the
opportunity to ensure that there are no ridges length hook shank where
the wing or tail is tied in.
- Wind the herl around the thread to form a herl rope.
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C)
- Wind the herl rope 1/4 of the
way along the shank of the
hook
toward the eye of the hook to make the first segment of the body. Tie
the herl off but don't trim the excess.
- Whilst holding the excess peacock herl flat along
the top of the hook shank tie in a length of floss.
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D)
- Wind the floss
forward over the next 1/4 of the hook shank. Tie off and trim the
excess floss.
- Remake the herl rope
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E)
- Wind the herl rope
forward almost to the wing to make the third and last segment of the
body.
- Tie off the herl and trim the loose ends.
- Tie in a red cock
hackle in at the gap between the
third segment of the body and the wing. The barbs of the hackle
should be about 1.25 times the gape of the hook.
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F)
- Wind the hackle forward taking an
equal number of
turns behind and in front of the wing but stopping short of the eye of
the hook so as to leave room for the head.
- Tie the hackle off and trim the
excess.
- Build up a neat head, whip finish and varnish.
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