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AKA: Dahlberg diver type tails.

Only some of the things that bass eat have tails on often the tail is very small.

Despite that many of the flies that we tie have a tail.

In most cases tails are tied into dry flies as an extension of the body and are generally incorporated in the fly design to give the fly some additional movement. Whilst the Dahlberg Diver is fished on the surface it is in fact fish wet so the tail has the characteristics of a wet fly tail and it includes soft materials such as marabou, synthetics, and of course hackles.
Dahlberg Diver tails are generally equal in length to between the length of the hook shank and two times the length of the hook shank. Avoid making tails too long because sometimes the fish will hit the movement of the tail and miss the hook completely. This is often referred to as a "short take" or "taking short".

The technique for tying in Dahlberg Diver type tails for a right handed fly tier are set out below. If you are left handed please remember to switch the instructions around.

Good marabou tails are a real bonus to a big dry fly because the marabou hangs in the water and has a lot of movement.

Process

A	Because the body of this fly is spun deer hair you have to leave as much as possible of the hook shank free of thread. Start the fly by taking two or three turns of thread at the bend of the hook. Create a Woolly Bugger tail taking particular care not to let the butt ends of any of the material extend up the shank of the hook. Woolly bugger tails

B	Tie one or two hackles on each side of the marabou type tail with the curve of the hackles facing outward still taking particular care not to let the butt ends of any of the material extend up the shank of the hook.

C	When you look at the fly from above the Woolly Bugger type tail with the hackles on each side should look symmetrical like this.

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