How to Tie the Iron Blue Dun Fly

Learn how to tie the Iron Blue Dun fly pattern, including step-by-step instructions, a video tutorial, pictures, and much more. Improve your fly-tying skills here.

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This fly is a mayfly imitation and can be tied from a size 12 - 18. J. Edson Leonard in his 1950's book "Flies" said there are perhaps as many versions of the Iron Blue as there are Iron Blues on your favorite stream. Although this fly may have been replaced by the famous Adams it's a nostalgic old school fly that still catches fish

Recipe

• Hook: TMC 100 Dry Fly Hook; 12 - 18
• Thread: Uni 8/0; Rusty Dun
• Tag: Danville's 4 Strand Floss; Red
• Tail: Hareline Coq De Leon; Medium Pardo
• Body: Superfine dubbing; Adams Gray
• Wing: Whiting Hen Neck; Dun
• Hackle: Whiting Furnace Dry Fly Cape

Video Transcript

Hello, I'm Carl with Trident Fly Fishing. Today we're going to tie the Iron Blue Dun. This is a dry fly version. J. Edson Leonard in his 1950s book, Flies, said there are perhaps as many versions of the Iron Blue as there are Iron Blues on their favorite stream. The fly is an imitation of a mayfly and can be tied from a 12 to an 18. I like to fish it as a 14, but today I'm going to tie it on a 12 so it's easier for everyone to follow along. Here's the completed fly in the vise.

The hook is a TMC 100 in size 12, and the thread we're going to use today is Uni-Thread 8/0 in Rusty Dun. We'll start with our thread about an eye length and a half behind the hook eye. That's going to be the point where we tie our wing in. Run our thread back about halfway to form a base for that wing, then back up to where we want to tie it in.

The wing is from a hen neck in color Dun. Select a couple of small feathers. We're going to tie these feathers in so that the shiny side is facing each other. We want this wing to be as tall as the hook, about there. We'll make a pinch wrap and run our thread back about halfway down the hook shank. Cut off our excess material, then back forward to the back of the wing. Grab our wing and pull it up. In front of the wing we're going to form a dam with several turns of thread - that's going to stand the wing up. Then to further separate the wing, we'll make some figure eights through the wing. We'll just leave the wing forward a little bit to stay out of our way while we tie.

The next material we're going to tie in is going to be a tag, which will sit just behind the tail. We're going to use Danville's four-strand floss in red, and for this we're only going to need two strands. This is really slippery stuff, and if you just tie this onto the hook shank as a tag by wrapping just one or two pieces together, it can slide down the hook shank. So we're going to take just one of those strands and wrap that back down the bend of the hook, maybe four or five turns, and back up to our tie-in point. Tie that off and get rid of our excess material. Then take that remaining strand and bring it right back up over the top of that floss, on top of the hook, and tie that in. That piece is going to prevent the rest of the floss from sliding down the hook. Cut off our excess.

Now we're ready to tie in our tail. The tail material is Coq de Leon Speckled Pardo Medium. Take one feather out of the clump, then take several fibers to form the tail. Pull those out perpendicular to the stem so that they're all even, then strip those down. We want this tail to be hook shank in length, so we'll measure that out against the hook shank. Tie that in right on top of the hook shank, right where the tag is. Tie the remainder of the material in and cut off our excess.

Now we're ready to tie in our body material, which is going to be some dubbing. Run our thread all the way back to the base of the tail again. Our body is going to be Superfine dry fly dubbing in the color Adams Gray. Make ourselves a nice thin dubbing noodle and run this all the way up to the back of the wing. This Superfine dubbing adheres to the thread really well. I would almost rather put on not enough than too much.

The next material we're going to tie in is going to be the hackle. This is the color Furnace - size to the hook. We'll prepare it by snipping off some barbules at the base, leaving some stubs there for our thread to purchase. While I'm here, I'm going to snip off those excess pieces from the wing that are out over the eye. What's behind the eye is going to be hidden, we won't see that.

Now we're going to wrap our hackle forward - probably three turns behind the wing and a like number in front. Pull the wing back to get it out of your way. It will help stand it up. When you reach the eye, tie it off. Snip off our excess material, pull the hackle back, and form a nice small head.

Once you're satisfied with that, take our whip finish tool and do a four or five turn whip finish. Seat the knot and cut our thread. Add a little head cement - this is Loon water-based. It soaks into the threads really well. If it gets into the eye, just a flick with your fingernail and it gets cleaned out. That completes our fly.

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