{{+1}}Iron Blue Dun{{-1}}

The Iron Blue Dun is a standard hackled classic dry fly that has a permanent home in most UK dry fly-fishers fly boxes. Its also considered a staple fly in many Australian and New Zealand dry fly boxes. It is representative of the male dun and the hatches occur throughout the season.

Materials

Process

Trout fly proportions

Hook	Thread	Tail	Body	Wings	Hackle
Knapek D #10 to #14	Black	Blue dun or chocolate hackle fibres	Charcoal thread or mixture of chocolate and gray seals fur dubbing	Grey duck feather slips or tips	Blue dun or chocolate

A	Starting at the eye of the hook wind the thread backward along the front half of the hook shank in touching turns and then return the thread back toward the eye of the hook to the 3/4 position. Understanding hooks Select two matching feather slips or feather tips and tie them in with one on each side of the hook shank with the tips facing forward. Feather slip wings Once tied in stand them upright and secure them into that position. This can be done by holding the wings in the upright position and then taking one or two horizontal wraps of thread around the base of the wing and then using the thread to hold the wings upright by taking a few wraps of thread behind the wing position. As an alternative to feather slip wings you can tie in a set of upright divided hackle or hair wings. Upright divided wings Wrap the thread almost to the bend of the hook and then tie in a tail of say 6 or 7 hackle fibres. The finished length of the tail should be between 3/4 and the full length of the hook shank. Tie in a length of red floss at the bend of the hook.

B	Build up a butt of red floss over the rear 1/3 of the hook shank.

C	Using the single strand dubbing method dub a thin body on the middle third of the hook shank.

D	Tie in the hackle directly in front of the body. Dry fly hackle Take the thread forward to just behind the eye of the hook.

E	Wind the hackles equally behind and in front of the wing and tie off behind the eye of the hook and tie it off behind the eye of the hook with a couple of firm wraps of thread. Using a blade trim off the excess hackle.