Swimming fry
Fly: Henk Verhaar, Photograph: Hans Weilenmann
Hook: Long shank hook, size 12 or smaller, e.g. a TMC300 or 5263
Thread: Anything that you're comfortable with spinning deer hair
Weight: Thin lead wire, last 2/3 of the hook, or less if desired
Tail: Two webby hackle or small saddle feathers, preferably hen
Body: Cream dubbing or wool
Overbody: 3-4 strands (barbs!) of peacock tail feather, not from the eye (the stuff generally known as peacock herl...)
Head: Deer hair


This is a straightforward small fry pattern that can be tied either unweighted, as a floating fry imitation, or slightly leaded, to imitate a swimming fry. The swimming version can be used as a lure, or to fish to individual fry-hunting fish.

Tying instructions:

  1. Wrap the rear 2/3 of the shank with the lead wire, for a weighted fly, otherwise just attach the thread and bring to the rear.

  2. Prepare two hackle feathers for the tail, by selecting sections of the correct width (says he who usually takes them too wide...). Snip out the tip section above the selected sections. The length (of the stems of the selected sections that is) should be about 1/5 shank length. Clip the barbs below this section to provide a good thread hold, and tie in. Make sure both feather sections curve towards each other, and keep them in the vertical when tying in. If you're making weighted versions you might want to consider tying in the tails before wrapping the lead -- this makes it a little easier to keep the tail horizontal instead of angling down.

  3. Tie in the peacock herl at the base of the tail, pointing backwards. Create a nicely tapered body with the wool (preferably) or dubbing, and bring the peacock herls to the front, creating a tidy back. Tie off and clip short. You should now have about a 1/4 length of bare shank left to make the head.

  4. Take a small clump of short spinning hair (preferably not winging hair), stack the tips and create a muddler style, short collar. For a fly this size, the clump should be about the thickness of a pencil. I'm not sure what hair from a mule or white-tailed deer would be best for this. I normally use red deer or better still, roe deer for this, since these are smaller animals than the normal American deer species and so have smaller hairs as well. Maybe fallow deer would do too -- those are available in the US, I've heard. Create a tightly packed head of deer hair by spinning. Use a packing tool! Either a Brassie in the correct size, or a Griffin hair packer. Alternatively, a Bic disposable pen shaft works too. Shape the head with a razor blade.


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© 1999 Hans Weilenmann
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