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Alder Fly
A wet fly, tied #10–14, a spring pattern. It is tied against 1 named insect in this book — May–June.
- #10–14Hook size
- wet flyType
- SpringSeason
- 1Hatch matched
What it looks like
A drawing, not a photograph, and not traced from one. Its proportions were read off 5 independent reference photographs of the pattern and written down as 5 measured characteristics — wing angle, tail length against the shank, how far a hackle fibre reaches — every one of which had to hold across more than one of them before it could be drawn. What survives across many photographs of a fly is the fly.
What it imitates
Each of these is the same hatch record the app's own panel reads, so a pattern recommended on a river card in the app is recommended for one of the insects below.
Tying recipe
In tying order. This dressing is the standard one — these patterns have been in the publicrecord for decades — and materials substitute freely: the proportions and the silhouette are the pattern, not the brand of dubbing.
| Hook | Wet-fly hook, sizes 10–14 |
|---|---|
| Thread | Black 8/0 |
| Body | Peacock herl |
| Wing | Dark mottled hen or speckled turkey, folded low |
| Hackle | Black hen, sparse |
When to fish it
Just under the film along shaded, alder-lined banks in late spring. An old wet fly that happens to match Sialis exactly.
A spring pattern. The insects it matches are active may–june, in water from 52°F to 66°F.
Target species
- Trout
Rivers it fishes well
Rivers with a page here that sit in the regions where the insects this pattern imitates are recorded. It is a claim about coverage, not a report of a fish caught.
- Au Sable River northern lower Michigan · July mean 72.1°F
- Catawba River the North Carolina mountains · July mean 76.7°F
- Jackson River the Virginia mountains · July mean 66.3°F
- Muskegon River northern lower Michigan · July mean 71.0°F
- Escanaba River the Upper Peninsula · July mean 68.3°F
- Saint Croix River northern Wisconsin · July mean 77.2°F
- Smith River the Virginia mountains · July mean 51.9°F
- Tygart Valley River the Virginia mountains · July mean 74.6°F
- Aaron Creek the North Carolina mountains · July mean 76.7°F
- Aaron Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 77.1°F
- Aarons Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 74.2°F
- Abb Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 77.1°F
Related patterns
Same type of fly, or tied for the same insects.
- Partridge & Orange Soft Hackle wet fly · #12–18 — Swung down and across. The simplest fly here and among the most effective.
- Leadwing Coachman wet fly · #10–14 — The old wet-fly answer to Isonychia. Swung on a tight line in fast water.
- Black Stonefly Nymph nymph · #12–18 — Dead-drifted along the bottom. Stonefly nymphs are always present in rocky water.
- Hare's Ear Nymph nymph · #10–18 — Looks like everything and nothing. The other half of a two-nymph rig.