dandelion fly

The Dandelion Fly


Hook:Tiemco #2487 (any curved shank/pupa hook) size #16-#18
Thread:Rusty Dun 8/0 for extended body, brown for the nymph body
Extended body:White Z-Lon
Hackle:medium dun
Rib on nymph portion:small copper wire
Thorax on nymph portion:peacock herl

Preparing the Z-Lon-using a lighter or candle, heat up the end of a full strand until it starts to melt.





Quickly roll it in your fingers to create a tapered end that captures all the strands.
Cut it off at about 1-1/2", stroke the fibers together to make sure they’ll all be the same length, and finish the end the same way. It is hot, wet your fingers before rolling if you need to.





Set your two vises up nose to nose, and clip one end into the vise on
the right. (right handed direstions)
Pull the Z-Lon tight, and grip it with the main vise on the left. Start
your thread as shown, about 3/4" from the jaws of the vise on the left, wind back about 1/2" in tight wraps. Option:I add a small rib of brown thread tied in at this point, but the original does not have it. It is an easy addition, but not necessary.





Wind thread back towards the vise on the right in tight, consecutive wraps stopping about 1/16" from the start point.






Prepare your pc. of hackle, making sure you have discarded the rigid portion at the base of the feather. (If you don’t, the force required to wind the hackle will cause the Z-Lon to spin away from you. Pinch it with your left hand while winding the hackle.) Add a drop of head cement, and tie in the hackle. Make about 4 turns of hackle, and tie it off with 2 wraps of thread.





With the bobbin hanging, add a drop of head cement to secure it and wait a few minutes until it sets. To tie the finishing knot, I make two large overhand half-hitches, and add another drop of cement to secure.





Remove from vise, and place the curved-shank hook in your main vise With the brown thread, tie on the small copper rib and wind back in tight wraps as before. I keep the copper rib on top of the shank. When you’ve reached about the middle of the bend, change directions and wind the thread forward. Wrap the copper forward, creating the rib as shown.





Tie off the copper, wind the thread forwar to just behind the eye of the hook. Tie on the extended body portion as shown. The wrapped portion is
rigid, tie on at the Z-Lon, leaving room so it will bend up when finished.





Wind the thread back over the Z-Lon to where the rib was tied-off. Tie in two pcs. of herl and wind forward. Tie off.





Gently pull the extended body back, and make 3-4 tight turns of thread to hold in a slightly upright position. Trim the portion behind the herl, and above the parachute to the length you like. I keep my parachute portion short, so that there is as little weight pushing the fly down as possible.

 The finished dandelion fly pattern

When fishing the fly, I add floatant to the hackle and extended body,
and moisten the thread on the nymph portion with some water from the
river.