How To Tie The Adams Dry Fly
HOW TO TIE THE ADAMS DRY FLY
The Adams Dry Fly has earned a preeminent place in fly fishing history. Although it is not a specific imitation of a particular aquatic insect, its highly suggestive coloration and overall bugginess has made it one of the top dry flies since Leonard Halladay first tied one in the 1920's. There are dozens if not hundreds of Adams variations out there, so here is the original Adams pattern as first tied by Halladay and first used by Charles Adams on Michigan's Broadman River, and you can take it from there. It may be of interest to note that dry flies tied in the 1920's did not resemble the dry flies of today. The proportions and type of hackle used back then were more reminiscent of what today we might call a spider-type of tie. One of our favorite variations of the Adams involves using moose body hair for the tailing, producing a higher floating dry fly for riffles and pocket water fishing.
HOOK SIZES: 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24
HOOK OPTIONS: Tiemco 100, Tiemco 100BL, Daiichi 1180
THREAD: Gray 6/0 or 8/0
WING: Hen neck hackle tips upright
TAIL: grizzly and brown mixed hackle fibers. (Variation: Moose body hair stacked)
BODY: Gray muskrat belly fur dubbing or Adams Gray Superfine dubbing
HACKLE: Brown and grizzly dry fly hackle mixed
HEAD FINISH: Water base head cement.
HOOK OPTIONS: Tiemco 100, Tiemco 100BL, Daiichi 1180
THREAD: Gray 6/0 or 8/0
WING: Hen neck hackle tips upright
TAIL: grizzly and brown mixed hackle fibers. (Variation: Moose body hair stacked)
BODY: Gray muskrat belly fur dubbing or Adams Gray Superfine dubbing
HACKLE: Brown and grizzly dry fly hackle mixed
HEAD FINISH: Water base head cement.
