First, a note on the 'Wonderwing'. I wish I knew who to credit the wonderwing with, unfortunately I've no idea - whoever it was, cracking idea!

Basically it's made from a hackle feather, tied in by the stalk with the herls of the hackle stroked back 'against the grain' - provided this is kept reasonably taught a terrific wing shape can be made to mimic anything from diptera style wings held flat over the body, just as in the black gnat, caddis wings, crane fly wings and upwings. The amount of tension on the herls dictates the shape of the wing when tied it - versatile, effective and really very easy.



Ingredients for the Black Gnat:

Hook: Sprite Perfection dry fly size 16 / Partridge Sedge/Caddis size 14
Underbody/Tag: Fluorescent orange floss
Silk: Black 14/0
Body: Fine, tightly dubbed mole hair
Rib: None
Wing: White/Blue dun wonderwing - see instructions
Hackle: Grizzle

For the way it looks when finished, this is a remarkably simple fly to tie. Start by making a foundation layer of the fluoro floss from the middle of the thorax, trimming the tag end as close to the thorax as possible, to almost half way around the bend of the hook. Bring the thread back in touching turns to the thorax and tie off with a three turn whip finish and cut the thread off. Now attach the black silk and completely cover the foundation to the start of the bend, leaving the tag section which goes around the bend showing.

Sparsely and tightly dub some mole hair (less really is more here) so you have a nice, slim, abdomen for two thirds of the length of the hook shank. It's at this point that you will tie in the wonderwing. The way I make these is fairly simple. Take an appropriately sized hackle feather - approx 2 or 3 sizes too large to use as a normal hackle for the hook size you're using - and hold the tip with the fore-finger and thumb of your left hand. Stroke back the herls on the feather towards the root with the fore-finger and thumb on your right hand so they stand out at right angles to the stalk of the hackle feather. Make sure the approximate number of herls is equal on each side of the stalk, otherwise the wing looks a little uneven and then stroke the fibres back toward the root again, this time holding them in place with the thumb and forefinger of your right hand.

This next bit is the only tricky bit - tying the wing to the hook shank. While holding the feather reasonably tightly, squeeze the hookshank between finger and thumb so the feather is as close to it as possible. Believe me, you're going to drop the feather more than a few times, you're probably going to trap the tying thread at the same time as the feather and you're probably going to come up with a few hicoughs of your own to boot. However, once you've managed to jockey the feather into the right position, lay a single soft wrap of silk over it to secure it in the right aspect to the hook, follwing that with two or three hard wraps towards the eye of the hook to lash it down. Trim the excess feather from the fly, as close to the retaining wraps as possible, using sharp scissors.

Tie in a single grizzle hackle next, the better the hackle you can get the better the finished fly will look. Make several turns of the hackle up to the eye so the first third (approx) of the shank of the hook has a palmered effect. Secure the hackle by winding the silk through it and finish the fly with a pair of whip finishes, one over the top of the other at the head.

This fly does a great impression of most small, dark, terrestrial insects blown onto the water. It's particularly good for Hawthorns and Black Gnats in vaired light conditions. The grizzle hackle makes it visible both in bright light conditions and in shade, so it's an easy winter pattern when natural light strikes the surface of the water at a narrow angle.