Fly of the Week: Grey Comparadun

The Comparadun is relatively modern fly (given the age of fly fishing, that is.) This fly made it's first appearance in the book Hatches by Bob Nastasi and Al Caucci in 1975 as a "no hackle dry fly"(my quotes, not theirs.) It is a mayfly imitation and can be tied in sizes 10-20.


This is one of the most productive dry flies that I use. I always keep a couple on me, in various colors, to throuw out when things get a little slow. While this is a dry fly, I have had some limited success fishing it just under the surface as an emerger.

This fly is pretty easy to tie. Let's check it out:

Grey Comparadun
Hook: #14 dry fly hook
Tail: Brown/Grizzley Hackle fibers
Body: Grey Dubbing
Wings: Comparadun Hair. 

This fly is really easy to tie, just keep a few things in mind.
1) When you tie in the hair, make sure you put a "bump" of thread in front so that the hairs stand out straight from the fly.
2)Tie the dubbing on last.  This keeps the base of the hair under the body and results in a better, "buggier" fly. So essentially you tie on the tail, go up the shank about 3/4 and tie on the wings then go back and start to dub the body.

Cheers!