Make a Mayberry. Mayfly step by step

DIY MAYFLY. Mayfly step by step.

by Kuba Chruszczewski

 Huge (for our conditions) insects flying over the river and carried away by the current, loud sloshing sounds accompanying the feeding of fish, and fish that we would not expect to see in the fishery - this is the time of May. Several species of large insects from the order of mayflies( the most common are Ephemera danica i Ephemera vulgata) appears over our waters around June, to disappear after a few or a dozen days until the next season. Some fly fishers are very fond of fishing on May Day, they live in anticipation of this unique time, when the biggest specimens of fish can be caught on a well-chosen and served fly. And to catch by the method most favored by most - on a dry fly.

     There are very many types of flies imitating the described insect. I invite you to make a mayfly with a thorax of the type detached (English, separate) or extended (extended). This type of design allows you to build a large imitation on a relatively small, well-handled (short shank!) hook. The use of a light hook, and the use of deer hair gives the fly excellent buoyancy.

  1.We embed a thin needle in a vise, catching it by the eye. We tie close to the blade of the needle the material for the tail( in this case, several rays of mallard  ), and a bunch of deer hair. We tie the hair by grabbing the natural ends of the hair with a thread.

  2.We lubricate the needle with a thin elastic glue. We bend the fur backwards and make segmentation with spiral coils of thread. We finish the operation with a few knots using a finisher.

  3.When you consider that the glue has dried, carefully slide the finished trunk off the needle.

  4.Tie the trunk to the hook.

5. We tie the material for the wings - a bundle of deer hair - with the ends facing forward, leaving a free space between the base of the wings and the torso for the back part of the hedgehog.

6.In a wide plastic clip grab the hair of the deer, trim the bristles to the desired length of the hedgehog.

 7. split the double leading thread, lubricate it with glue and place the hair between the single threads on the blackberry.

 8.We make a hedgehog behind the wings , while winding, we comb the hair back with our fingers.

9. Now repeat steps 6. and 7., using this time a coat of a different color( you can fold several colors).

10. We make a blackberry in front of the wings, mold the head, varnish - our Maya is ready.

11. Front view - the fur from which we made the wings can be left in the form of a fan, or it can be projected so as to mark two separate wings arranged in a „V”.

Of course, there are opportunities to use many other materials to build mayfly imitations. Here are some examples:

12.Torso-type detached  (extended)- deer hair

                 Scroll - brown thread

                Petiole - a few rays of a guinea fowl feather

                 Wings - cdc feathers dyed yellow

                 Blackberry - parachute type, cree rooster dyed yellow

             13.Trunk, tail, scroll - as above

                   Wings - tips of cree rooster neck feathers, dyed yellow

                   Barberry - neck feathers of grizzly and cree rooster, dyed yellow

14. Trunk, scroll - as above

                   Petiole - several rays mallard

                   Blackberry - id.

                   Wings - breast feathers of the mallard duck

The article is from Fishing News 2011