Dandelion Fly Pattern
The deeper I get involved in fly fishing, the deeper my sense of familiarity grows with the sport’s tools and tricks. Every new pc. of equipment seems like either an innovative product answering a real need, or a better version of something that exists now. "New" flies tend to fall into the latter category, and are seldom better, just different.
When I spotted the Dandelion fly last fall, I was very impressed with the "two flies, one hook" nature of the thing. I’ve seen parachutes, small nymphs, two fly rigs, dropper set-ups, but never such a clean
solution so cleverly executed. (not to mention it would be fine to use
on regulated water!) I quickly bought four of them, and hit the river.
When I arrived minutes later, a big March brown mayfly landed on the roof of my car. If there is anything that makes you forget little flies, its the presence of big ones! As it turns out, i’d caught the last twenty minutes of what was descibed as a "half-hearted" hatch anyway. Looking to my box, I quickly remembered the Dandelion. As it
tied it on and imagined how it "should" look in the water, I admired the construction again. I was very optimistic, the design seemed to make great sense to me. When it landed, the fly disappeared to the hackle line, the tiny parachute visible on the smooth water. I was in "fly tier" mode, not "fly fisher" mode. A quick swirl, and the fly was gone!
I hadn’t picked up the slack after the cast, or mended the line. The trout was gone, but the nice feeling was not. The fly proved to be an
excellent BWO and midge emerger pattern forthe rest of the season. The fly is actually not that hard to tie, but requires a bit more time and alot more patience than most. (I remind myself that i’m really tying two flies, not one) It is critical to have the thread wraps touching one another on the extended portion, and wrapped tightly. I’ve decided that 8/0 is the right weight for this fly in the small sizes, and that preparing several of them at a time is the right move. After the first two, you get a bit of a rythm going. I’ve also tried to tie the extended portions using dubbing and wrapped peacock herl, but the results were bulky, and more difficult to execute. Lastly, the two vise issue. For tiers who don’t have two vises, get a cheap 2nd one if you plan on trying this fly. The Z-Lon needs to be under a fair bit of
tension to make the extended body. I’m not sure there is a good alternative that costs less than a $15-$20 vise. If you figure one out, let the fellow Hipwaders know!
A note on the name of the fly….I bought this fly not really caring what is was called, but wanted to provide the name when I posted it on HW. The owner of the shop in NY thought it was either the "Drymerger" or the "Dandelion." Having now chased this question all the way to
Montana where more shops sell them, it appears as though the name IS the Dandelion fly. When my two samples arrive, i’ll have the answer for sure.
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.
Tying The 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. Cheers, Rob
