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PMD Sparkle Dun
A dry fly, tied #14–18, a summer pattern. It is tied against 2 named insects in this book — May–July.
A hackleless dun tied Sparkle Dun style, where the trailing shuck does most of the work of selling the fly. It sits on a standard dry-fly hook in sizes 14–18, tied with yellow 8/0 thread: split Z-lon or micro-fibbets for the tail, pale yellow-olive superfine dubbing for the body, and light deer hair fanned over the top for the wing. No hackle at all, so the body rests in the surface. It is tied against the Pale Morning Dun, Ephemerella excrucians, hatching in June and July between 50 and 65 degrees, and the Sulphur, Ephemerella dorothea and invaria, May through July between 52 and 68. It is a summer fly for midday PMD emergences in June and July, fished dead drift on spring creeks, and the tippet gets lengthened before the fly gets changed. For trout.
- #14–18Hook size
- dry flyType
- SummerSeason
- 2Hatches 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.
- Pale Morning Dun Ephemerella excrucians · June–July · 50–65°F · #14–18
- Sulphur Ephemerella invaria · May–July · 52–68°F · #14–18
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 | Standard dry-fly hook, sizes 14–18 |
|---|---|
| Thread | Yellow 8/0 |
| Tail | Split Z-lon or micro-fibbets |
| Body | Pale yellow-olive superfine dubbing |
| Wing | Light deer hair, fanned Sparkle Dun style |
| Hackle | None |
When to fish it
Midday PMD emergences in June and July. Dead drift, and lengthen the tippet before changing the fly.
A summer pattern. The insects it matches are active may–july, in water from 50°F to 68°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
- Kalamazoo River southern lower Michigan · July mean 71.3°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
Related patterns
Same type of fly, or tied for the same insects.
- Rusty Spinner dry fly · #14–20 — Almost every mayfly spinner is rust-coloured. This covers the last hour of light.
- Sulphur Dun dry fly · #14–18 — Pale yellow-orange. Evening hatch fly on nearly every eastern river.
- Parachute Adams dry fly · #12–20 — Universal mayfly dun imitation. Every angler carries these.
- Adams (Catskill) dry fly · #12–20 — The original. Rides higher than the parachute in broken water.
- Adult Cranefly dry fly · #10–16 — Long trailing legs, sparse hackle, skittered rather than drifted. Autumn and spring evenings on the bank side.