Below is a list of some of our favorite
dry fly patterns and their dressings. Included with the pattern is a brief description of how and when to fish these great flies.
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 Elk Hair Caddis
One of Al Troth’s best patterns and probably the most widely used adult caddis imitation. The elk hair wing simulates the active motion of egg laying or newly hatched adults and can float through the most turbulent water. Make sure the hair you choose will flare easily and has unbroken tips. We like the cream bull elk because it’s easy to see but natural cow elk makes a great second choice due to its natural tan color. Tie in the wire rib first, dub the body then tie in the hackle and wind back towards the bend. When the wire is wound through the hackle it makes it indestructible. Try not to bulk up the head too much, use hair that will flare with 6/0 thread.
Hook: Tiemco 100 or Dai Riki 305, sizes 10-18
Thread: 6/0 tan, brown or olive
Body: Super fine or SLF mink dubbing, tan, olive, brown or to suit
Rib: fine gold wire
Hackle: Brown, grizzly, dun etc.—tied from front to back and anchored with wire rib
Wing: Cream bull elk or tan cow elk, wing should be length of hook shank
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 Goddard Caddis
John Goddard’s high floating caddis pattern has been a top producer on the Madison and surrounding rivers for many years. The trimmed deer hair body has the shape and silhouette that make it effective for both riffle and flat-water situations. A great skating pattern in the evenings and buoyant enough to suspend emerger patterns on a two fly setup, the Goddard is one of our guides’ first choices when the caddis are out. Use two clumps of deer hair for the body—any more seems to crowd the eye too much. Using lighter colored deer hair for the body with a stripe on the underside made with a marker helps make the patterm more visible. Shades of dark brown, black and olive deer hair to match the naturals in your area can be useful variations.
Hook: Tiemco 100 or Dai Riki 305, sizes 8-18
Thread: 3/0 for spinning body, 8/0 or 6/0 black to finish hackle/antennae
Body: Hollow deer—back ½ tied on top of hook shank with butts facing rear of hook, front half spun and packed against first clump. Trim bottom flat under hook shank and then make two angled snips forming body into tent shape. Trim butt ends at 45 degree angle to finish caddis wing shape. A touch of calf tail or poly yarn on top can help with the visibility.
Hackle: Two brown or furnace hackles
Antennae: Stripped hackle stems, fine mono, Betts tailing material or omit
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 Mac Salmon
Another great Al Troth creation, the "macramé" salmonfly is a great producer when the big bugs are out. The impressive version pictured was tied by Mike Conley who taught us a few tricks about its construction. Instead of using scissors to trim the head he uses an ultra thin chromium razor blade bent around a drill bit of the desired diameter and pinched together with a set of vise grips. Once the bit is removed a super sharp cutting tube is left for trimming the head into the perfect shape. It not only speeds the process up for commercial tying purposes but leaves each fly with a perfectly trimmed head. The end of the braided poly macramé should be singed with a lighter and the piece is then threaded on the hook shank and lashed ¾ of the way down the shank. There probably will be a bit of bulk in this area because the wing sheet and elk hair are tied there as well but the collar from the spun head will cover these wraps. Select some coarse hollow hair for the head---one bunch for the collar and one bunch to finish off the head. Many smaller versions of this fly have been tied with bullet heads, varied body and wing colors which can imitate golden stones, cicadas and hoppers.
Hook: Tiemco 5212 or Dai Riki 730, sizes 6-10.
Thread: 3/0 orange.
Body: Braided orange poly macramé yarn.
Wing: Turkey quill or artificial wing sheet coated with thin layer of Softex. Top wing is cream bull elk or darker elk mane topped with a hank of bright antron for visibility.
Head: Spun elk or deer—dark brown or black.
Collar: Spun elk or deer—dark brown or black.
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 Quigleys Cripple
Finicky trout working the emergent phase of a mayfly hatch can be a test of skill and patience. Bob Quigley’s forward wing design and subsurface shuck can help to imitate this most vulnerable phase of the hatch. Slow, deliberate riseforms indicate the fish know their quarry will probably not escape. The body/tail of this fly represents the trailing shuck while the forward facing wing imitates the portion of the adult which has pulled free but is still trapped. Many variations of this style has appeared within the last few years but it and the deer hair spider were first seen on the flat water stretches of California’s Fall River and Hat Creek. Body, wing and hackle substitutions can be tailored to the many different species of mayflies and midges. Long shanked versions are great for chironomid hatches on lakes and small black/white patterns work great for midge or trico imitations. After the body is completed start the wing on top of the shank about ¾ down. Make it sparse—about 15 fibers for a #16 is enough and make a nice smooth platform to wind the hackle. When you cut the hair leave a small tuft of trimmed hair behind to frame the hackle. Grizzly is a great choice but vary the color to match the local insects---2 ½ turns is all you need. Tie off the hackle behind the wing and move the thread under the wing and give it a few tight wraps to prop it up before finishing off the head. Dress only the wing with floatant so the body rides subsurface and give it a try next time your "stuck" for which pattern to use during a mayfly hatch.
Hook: Tiemco 100, 2487 or Dai Riki 305, sizes 12-22.
Thread: Size 8/0 Uni to match body color.
Body: Superfine dubbing, stripped quill, wound marabou, or thread ribbed with wire or contrasting lighted colored thread. This is a good place for experimentation—remember to keep it sparse!
Tail: The tail is optional but Z-lon, marabou, or any sparsely tied tail will work.
Hackle: 2 ½ turns of grizzly, dun, cree or color which best imitates the insects in your area.
Wing: Deer or Elk hair tied with wing facing forward. I like cream elk because it is easy to see but bright colored z-lon can be added to the top of the darker deer hair to make it more visible.
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 Small Parachutes
Minute insects, failing light or eyesight makes the parachute style dryfly a favorite of many anglers. Not only are they easier to see but they also put the body flush in the film and provide a great profile from the underside. A slight variance of the tail and body material and you can make an effective imitation of an emerger, dun, or terrestrial insect. The horizontal hackle also makes the fly plane on the surface when tension is applied and is great for "skittering" in the evening. Tying the smaller parachutes is a lesson in proportion and does take a little practice. After the tail is tied in and the thread is wound 2/3’s up the shank, a small piece of polypro yarn or Z-lon is tied in figure eight style on top of the hook shank much like a traditional spinner pattern. Once you have the wing in place grab both ends and spin the wing to the underside of the hook. Now you have an inverted set of perpendicular wings ready to be pulled straight up and combined together on the top of the shank. Wind a thread base up the wing with tight wraps up and down. Remember that you are actually doubling the wing material so start with a little less than you think you’ll need at first. The result of tying the wing this way is a nice smooth body behind the wing without the lump which adds bulk to the body or pushes the hackle upward instead of parallel to shank as desired. This is one of Al Troth’s tricks and is a good one. The tail and body can be tied with the traditional hackle and dubbing or substitutions can be made. Tied with Z-lon and pheasant tail on a curved shank makes a great emerger pattern. When tying in the hackle make sure the body material is tied up to the wing and that the hackle is tied concave side down just behind the wing. It is best to strip enough fibers from the stem so it can be lashed down on both sides of the wing. Put a drop of cement on the thread wraps on the parachute post and add a touch of dubbing to cover the wraps behind the wing and the area in front of the wing. Wind the hackle up the post leaving enough room between wraps for the return tip down to the shank. Make sure the hackle does not twist. When you get that last wrap in, lay the hackle tip on top of the shank past the body material and pull all the fibers back before you give it a few wraps to secure. Once off the hackle pliers, you give the hackle tip a little tug to tighten it on the post. Clear any errant fibers and finish the head.
Hook: Tiemco 100, 2487 or Dai Riki 305, sizes 14-22
Thread: 8/0 Uni thread, color to suit pattern
Body: Superfine dubbing, thread, biots, pheasant tail---experiment!
Tail: Hackle fiber, Splayed barbetts, Z-lon or antron.
Hackle: Color to suit—Hoffman saddles are great for this!
Wing: Polypro or Z-lon—white, yellow, pink or black for flat water/low light.
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 Stimulator
A great early season and summer pattern, the stimulator effectively imitates a number of backwing insects. Tied in sizes 12-16 in tans and olives it can be an excellent caddis imitation. Tied in sizes 6-16 in yellows, orange, olive and gray bodies it is a great stonefly pattern. We use a tan version with rubber legs in the summer when the fish have seen enough of the standard hopper patterns. Good stiff hollow hair makes a big difference with this fly. We like cow elk hair for both its gray/tan coloration and for its durability. A cream winged version tied with bull elk is another great wing material and is easy to see. Experiment with body and hackle color to match the insects in your area.
Hook: Tiemco 2312 , 5212 or Dai Riki 300, 270 sizes 6-16
Thread: 3/0 , 6/0 Orange or match thorax color.
Tail: Elk hair, deer hair or moose body hair
Abdomen: Dryfly dubbing of various colors. We like superfine for the smaller patterns and SLF or Flyrite for the larger flies. A hackle is palmered through the thorax along with a wire rib for durability. Grizzly and brown are the most common colors but many substitutions can be made.
Rib: Fine gold wire through abdomen only
Hackle: Three brown Saddle hackles tied thickly
Wing: Elk hair-cow or bull
Thorax: Making up the first 1/3 of the shank behind the eye, the thorax is a dubbed underbody with a hackle palmered through it. Make the wraps more tightly spaced than the body. A darker color usually is better and even peacock herl makes a great looking thorax. Rubber legs can be added at this point if desired. Remember you are wrapping the hackle around a wider base so you will have to undersize the hackle you are using to maintain the right proportion to the hook gap.
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 Super Pillow
A great high floating salmonfly pattern for imitating the great stonefly hatches in many western rivers. This is the one to fish when the bugs are actively flopping on the water. During the later egg laying stages of the hatch the hackle and wing can to trimmed back to a more streamlined profile to imitate the spent or drowned females after they have dropped their eggs. The Super Pillow is also a great skating fly when greased up and can bring some wild strikes when bounced and waked across heavy water. Slimmer and sparser versions make a great cranefly pattern and smaller versions with varied body colors are excellent golden stone patterns as well.
Hook: Tiemco 2312, 5212, 5263 or Dai Riki 300, 270, in any sizes 2-10.
Thread: 6/0, 3/0 Black or to suit
Body: Orange sparkle yarn or dubbing
Tail: Elk Hair—cow or bull
Rib: Palmered brown saddle reversed ribbed with wire.
Hackle: Three brown saddle hackles tied thickly.
Wing: Elk hair-cow or bull
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For a great selection of quality fly tying materials, visit the
Section of our Online Catalog. In addition to the Fly Tying section you can also purchase these great patterns in the
category in the Online catalog. There are also great photos of hundreds of additional patterns.
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