This fly has replaced the Hair-Wing Dun as my favorite mayfly. Visible, floats well and is pretty easy to tie. A variation on Charlie Craven's version; I'll sub a biot for dubbing every chance I can and I prefer doing the wing a bit differently (less bulky at the tie in and easier for me to splay the fibers). hook - Dai Riki 320 #16 thread - Uni 8/0 tan tail - hackle fibers light ginger body - biot Pink Cahill wing - Congo Hair white thorax - beaver dubbing epeorus pink hackle - light ginger mash barb, attach thread at 70% mark, wrap to point above barb and create a small thread bump measure a bunch of hackle fibers for length (hook shank); I like a goodly amount for floatation (the picky fish that count tail fibers are beyond my ability anyway) tie tail in with firm wraps to thread bump; if done correctly, fibers should tilt up a bit and splay clip fibers off at initial tie in and smooth with thread wraps, then tie in (moistened) biot notch-edge down for segmentation (up if you're after a smooth body) wrap biot forward and tie off tie in hank of Congo Hair at 70% mark orient hair perpendicular to hook shank with a few figure-8 wraps pull wing fibers up and post wing with a few wraps at the base (don't go too far up the wing since you're going to want it to splay a bit; these wraps just help gather the fibers a bit) apply a little vinyl cement (thinned) at the base and spread wing kinda like a compara-dun prep hackle feather and tie in behind wing (about a hook eye width behind wing base) apply thin layer of dubbing dub thorax; stop about 1 hook eye width back from eye wrap hackle forward through thorax, 3 turns behind wing, 4 in front (more is always better for me); tie off and trim apply a little more dubbing dub head, half hitch x2 and SHHAN trim wing to length (hook shank) trim v-notch in underside hackle (still floats like a champ in less than ideal conditions) and you're done Change colors to suit the bug; there have been times during the epeorus hatch where a greenish (somewhere between a washed-out olive/light green) body was more effective. Black-winged versions show up very well in low light conditions. I've had good luck on lots of different hatches from #12 March Browns to #18 Baetis. Regards, Scott
