Fly of the Month Bob Ireton brings together his experience in fly fishing, aquatic entomology, and knowledge of fly tying techniques and materials, to design and tie durable and effective flies.

   Volume 4,  Issue 12                                                               December 2003

HENDRICKSON COMPARA-DUN

Fly, Text, and Photography by Bob Ireton

The Compara-dun fly nicely imitates the silhouette of a Mayfly dun in the surface film. They float well even on moderately brisk water, and are visible, though they ride low in the water. Being in the surface film, as opposed to riding high on hackle, the fly looks like it is crippled, or dying, and very vulnerable. This will entice even a wary, selective wild trout.

Al Caucci developed the Compara-dun in the nineteen sixties. After meeting Bob Nastasi, they went on to develop the Compara-nymph, emerger, and spinner around nineteen seventy. They wrote several books, and do fishing instruction.

MATERIALS

Hook - TMC 100, Daiichi 1100, Dai-Riki 300, Mustad 94840, Orvis 1509.
Size - 14
Thread - 6/0 Tan.
Wing - Natural deer hair.
Tail - Dun tailing fibers.
Body - Tan dry fly dubbing.

TYING STEPS -  click on pictures for larger view

1 - Place the hook properly in the vice, and pinch down, or roll over the barb, if desired. Attach the working thread about a hook eye space behind the eye of the hook. Using close, tight wraps, lay on a thread base rearward, stopping above the barb. Tie a half hitch.
2 - Cut a bunch of fine, straight deer hair from the hide, and comb out all the guard hair. The amount of hair for the wing depends a lot on personal preference, and how smooth the water will be where you will use this fly. As you will be using just the very ends of the hair, the main bunch of hair will appear much thicker than what you think you will need. Look ahead on the pictures, and you will see what I mean. Put the deer hair in a stacker, tips down, and tap the stacker on a firm surface to align the tips of the hair.
3 - Remove the hair from the stacker, and lay the bunch of stacked hair on top of the hook with the tips facing toward the eye. The wing should be as high as the hook shank is long, and located 1/4 the distance of the hook shank, behind the eye. Tie the hair in at this location using a soft loop. Add a couple more wraps of thread, increasing pressure as you do this. Be sure to keep the hair on top of the hook. The pressure will cause the hair to flare. If the hair looks positioned correctly, wrap several more wraps of thread rearward, increasing pressure as you go. Tie a half hitch.
4 - Trim the butt ends of the deer hair, cutting so the ends are at a slant rearward. Cover these butts with thread, forming a tapered base for the dubbing body. Bring thread to above barb, and tie a half hitch.
5 - Using your fingers, bodkin, or whatever helps, work the deer hair tips into an arc of evenly spaced fibers. When the arc of hair is around 160 to 180 degrees, you have it. Now bring the thread in front of the hair, and build a ramp of thread in front of the hair to prop and hold it upright. Tie a half hitch. This picture shows this from above.
6 - This is a view from the front of the fly. Notice the short, black tips of the hair, and how these tips are evenly spaced.
7 - Lay the tailing fibers on the top of the hook, points facing rearward. The tail should be the length of the hook shank. Tie in the fibers, spreading them out slightly. Trim off the tailing fiber butts, and tie a half hitch.
8 - Spin a small amount of dubbing on the thread for the body. It is easy to use too much, so be aware of this.
9 - Palmer the dubbing from the base of the tail, forward, to build a body. When you get to the wing, just go under it, and dub in front of the wing. Tie a head, a couple of half hitches, and a nice whip finish. Snip off the working thread, and apply a small amount of head cement to the thread.
10 - This is a view from the bottom. The fish will see the fly like this.
11 - Here is a view looking down on the fly.

Copyright © 1998 - thisyear The Buckeye United Fly Fishers, Inc. Cincinnati, OH 45242