Written by Mike Gentry

OK - admittedly, this pattern is somewhat delicate given its smallness.  But hey, everyone needs to stretch their limits now and then!  No one will dispute that Pale Morning Duns should be a standard member of the Basic Dozen flies in our vests.

Materials:

Hook:                           Tiemco 100 #s 16-18

Thread:                        Cream or pale Yellow 8/0

Tail:                              Ginger hackle splines

Body:                           Cream or pale yellow superfine dubbing

Hackle:                        Brown partridge

Wing:                           "Clear" or light amber Z-lon

1.  Tie in a tail of six or so ginger hackle fibers, the tail approximately the length of the body.

2.  Wind the thread forward about 3/4 of the distance from the tail tie-in point to the back of the eye.

3.  Snip a 1 1/2 inch or so piece of Z-lon.  Divide with a bobbin and fingers so that you're only using about 1/2 of the strands (about 12 or so individual strands).  There will only be a "hint" of a sparkly wing.

4. Tie in the Z-lon on top of the hook with most of it sticking forward; tightly wrap the back end of the Z-lon with three or four wraps.  Snip the rest of the Z-lon in back as close to the tie-in point as possible.

5.  Holding the Z-lon straight up with one hand, put two or three tight wraps of thread against the front (eye-side) of the Z-lon to hold it in an upright position.

6.  Wind the thread back to the tail tie-in point, make a dubbing loop and dub in a thin, slightly increasing body to wind over the hook to just behind the upright Z-lon.  Tie of and clip the excess.

7.  Tie in a ginger or light brown hackle, butt-end first, and make four or five wraps behind and two or three wraps in front of the Z-lon.  I find it easy to move the upright Z-lon out of the way of the wrapping by moving it with my fingertips when I wrap.  Tie off and clip.

8.  Finish the head with thread wraps, clip and hold with a small drop of head cement.

9.  Holding the Z-long up with your fingers, clip it off just about the top of the hackle to finish the wings.