The Griffith's Gnat
from Skip Morris' book, "The Art of Tying the Dry Fly, 1993"
Midges are tiny, but they are often a big part of a trout's diet. Because midges often hatch in huge numbers and are quite helpless, some heavy trout will come up to them.
The Griffith's Gnat imitates a half-hatched midge. To suggest this incomplete metamorphosis, the Griffith's Gnat is usually fished awash, half-sunk and half-floating, in the surface.
Because midges have the unwholesome habit of gathering into clumps as they mate atop the water, a large Griffith's Gnat, size 14 or 12, can be used to suggest this lustful tangle of legs, bodies, and wings.
George Griffith, who helped start Trout Unlimited, created the Griffith's Gnat. If trout are rising steadily and gently along smooth glides at twilight, give me a size 24 Griffith's Gnat and I'll expect to turn a few fish.
Griffith's Gnat
HOOK: Midge or standard dry fly, sizes 24 to 12 (the hook shown is an Orvis 1637).
THREAD: Olive or black 8/0.
HACKLE: Grizzly.
BODY: Peacock herl.
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1. Start the thread and, at the bend, tie in a hackle that has been sized and prepared.
2. Tie in a short-fibered peacock herl at the bend. Trim the herl's end and work the thread to just behind the eye. Wrap the herl forward in consecutive turns and secure its end with three thread turns. Wrap the herl with only modest tension - fine herl is especially fragile.
3. Trim the herl's end, and then palmer the hackle up the body in four to six turns. Secure the hackle's tip with thread turns, trim the hackle's tip, and complete the fly with a thread head as ususal.