This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Whirling Dun.
The Whirling Dun can be found on Plate 9, page 254 of Ray Bergman’s book Trout (1938).
You’ll find several wet flies for my Throw Back Thursday Fly segment from Ray Bergman’s book . If you are a regular at RiverKeeper Flies, you recall Bergman’s book includes 15 colored plates to illustrate the dry and wet flies with a description of each fly in the back. It was the first book to provide color fly illustrations.
I’m not an expert about Ray Bergman, but I look to Don Bastian Wet Flies website whenever I need information or clarification. Don is a well known fly tyer, author, and speaker and has recreated the fly plates found in Trout. His flies are works of art! One of Bastian’s post entitled Ray Bergman – Some Clarification and Edification will provide additional history about Ray Bergman, if you are so inclined to learn more.
I like the elegance and simplicity of a Ray Bergman wet fly. I’m still learning to tie the quill wings of turkey or duck. One of the reasons to include the Ray Bergman flies for TBT is to force myself to tie them. I preach practice, practice, practice for becoming good at tying the flies I fish (like Sparkle Duns), so I thought I should listen to myself!
Here is the fly pattern recipe from the Full Description of Flies Shown in Color Plates in the final pages of Trout. The materials order is as listed in the book:
Whirling Dun
| Body: | Blue-Gray Fur |
| Tail: | Brown |
| Hackle: | Brown |
| Wing: | Slate |
I tied this fly on a Mustad 3906 #10 and muskrat dubbing for the body.
Enjoy…go fish!
