WWWW dun

WWWW dun

Fly: Henk Verhaar, Photograph: Hans Weilenmann
Hook:	Long shank, curved dry fly hook, here a TMC 200R, although a hook with a slightly larger gape would actually be better
Thread:	UNI, size 8/0
Tail:	Moose body, or other suitable material
Abdomen:	Dyed turkey biot. Alternative: dry fly dubbing, such as muskrat
Rib:	Dark tying thread, only with dubbed abdomen
Wing:	A single hackle feather, such as partridge or other soft hackle, hen neck or low grade cock neck feather, tied WallyWing style. Basically this is a variant of the wonderwing style
Wingpost:	Standard dry fly hackle

What's in a name... This is a pattern that is modeled after the reversed upside down patterns that these days are best known as WaterWispª flies and incorporates a rather innovative winging style called 'Wallywing', after its (current?) creator, Wally Lutz. That's four w's in a single pattern, therefore, and for lack of a better name, I will provisionally designate this fly a WWWW dun...

Tying instructions:

With non-standard patterns like this, there is no single best way (sequence) to get at the end result, so I'll just write down how I did it; your mileage may vary.

I start with the hook in the vice in the traditional way, clamped at the lower curve of the bend, shank up. Then I tie in the tails, extending over the eye, and split by forcing them to the sides of the shank. Optionally, tie in the rib. Cover the butts, up to the tie-in point for the wing, and clip excess. Invert the hook, or rotate the vise through 180 degrees (upside down that is). Take a large soft hackle feather (duck flank makes a nice choice in larger sizes) and tie it in wonderwing style, on the inside of the hook (which will form the dorsal side of the fly since this is an upside-down pattern), pointing towards the hook point. Do not clip the butt of the feather (the unused part for the wonderwing), but grab one or two barbs on one side, and gently strip that half of the wonderwing away from the rachis. Do the same with the other side, and clip away the rachis, snipping as close to the wing tie-in point as possible. You now have two very life-like looking inverted hackle wings, also known as 'Wallywings', that still carry one or more free barbs, the ones you used to strip the feather. Snip those away.

Tie in a good, long hackle by the butt, just to the rear of the wing (i.e. towards the hook eye), pointing forward (i.e. towards the bend). Bring the thread back to the tails and tie in the turkey biot by the tip. It helps if you moistened the biot previously. Some tiers will keep one or more biots between damp tissues to properly prepare them; I just wet my fingers and run them along the biot just prior to tying in. Bring the thread back to the hackle tie-in point, and make the abdomen, Tie the biot off and clip the excess. Wrap the hackle front to back (i.e. bend to thread position) with a 4-8 wraps in front of the wing and a couple behind. Tie off, clip and whip finish in place. Back to Thumbnails