A Mayfly imitation

This is a little  mayfly that I have been tying to imitate the black Mayflies that hatch on our rivers. They are tied on a Dohiku dry fly hook, have a body made from Hends body Quill in black with a  yellow rib. Both flies as below has a wing of Snowshoe rabbit fur, but the bottom one has some additional black hackle around the wing and the wing is a bit thinner. Both also have some CDC dubbing around the thorax.

 A more detailed pic of the second fly.

An extended body version

Snowshoe Caddis

MATERIALS

HOOK: Partridge Klinkhammer

HOT SPOT: Hends Body Quill

BODY: Hends Body Quill

WING:  Snowshoe Rabbit Foot

POST: Foam Cylinder

THORAX: Hare's Ear Dubbing

Step 1

Wind the Body Quill around the hook to form your hot spot.

Step 2

Tie down the Body Quill with the second colour of Body Quill that you are going to use for the body of the fly.

Step 3

Form the body of your fly. Make sure you form a nice taper. Attache your thread to the hook eye and tie down the Body Quill. Cut of the excess.

Step 4

Tie in the snowshoe rabbit hair just like you would tie in Elk hair for a Elk hair caddis. Snip of the excess towards the hook eye.

Step 5

Tie in your foam post

Step 6

Spin some dubbing around your thread and form the thorax and legs. Whip finish and trim the foam post.

Fly from below

From the front

Hends Body quill

I have recently received some Hends Body Quill material and have been playing on some flies with it. It is easy to work with and comes in a variety of colours. Though I haven't experimented enough I really like this material as you can vary the colour of the bodies by changing the number of wraps. You can also add different colours in your body as seen in the Red Butt nymph.

Two other flies I have use it on so far.

Colours available