The fly box · No. 07 of 36
CDC F-Fly
Small olives, midges, tiny sedges: a general small fly.
- Kind
- Dry
- Hook sizes
- 14–20
- Season
- Spring, summer, autumn, winter
- For
- Trout and grayling
- At the vice
- An easy tie
The dressing
| Hook | Fine-wire dry fly, barbless or barb flattened, sizes 14–20 |
|---|---|
| Thread | Black, olive or grey, 8/0 (70 denier) or finer |
| Tail | None |
| Body | Tying thread alone, or the thinnest possible layer of fine dubbing |
| Rib | None |
| Hackle | None |
| Wing | One to three natural grey CDC feathers, tied in flat over the back and trimmed level with the bend |
Tying it
- Run the thread to the bend and back, forming a slim, even body.
- Stop two eye-widths behind the eye.
- Align the tips of the CDC feathers, one for a size 20 and three for a 14.
- Tie them in on top of the shank with four firm turns so they lie low over the body.
- Trim the butts, leaving a short stub over the eye, and make a small head.
- Whip finish, then cut or pinch the wing off level with the bend.
Fishing it
Flat water, slow glides and difficult fish are where it belongs. Tie it to a long tippet of 6X (0.13 mm), or 7X (0.10 mm) for sizes 18 and 20, and fish it dead drift over sipping rises. After a fish the wing will be slimed and flat: rinse it, squeeze it in amadou or a cloth, and blow on it. Carry several and rotate them. In winter it is one of the few dries a grayling will rise to with confidence.
Where it comes from
Marjan Fratnik, a Slovenian angler, reduced the dry fly to a thread body and a few cul de canard feathers in the early 1980s. The feathers come from around a duck’s preen gland and their fine barbules hold air, so the fly floats without hackle. It sits low, looks soft and alive, and passes for a dozen small insects.