Trout Fly Proportions and the Adams

We can use standard trout fly proportions shown in the diagram to help us tie traditional flies that look good and fish well, and we’ll follow them to tie a well-proportioned Adams. But first, let’s see some background on this super-productive trout dry fly, a fly that doesn’t seem to imitate anything really well, but somehow imitates everything fairly well.

Tom Rosenbauer, in the Lyons Press 2001 edition of the Orvis Fly Tying Guide, tells us “For as long as I’ve been with the Orvis Company, twenty–four years as I’m writing this, the size 14 Adams has been the most popular fly, year after year.”

“The Adams was developed in the 1930s by Michigan angler Len Halliday as a deer-fly imitation for the Boardman River. I’ve never fished the Boardman, but unless it is unlike any other trout stream in the world, deer flies are probably not prime trout food. Deer flies hatch in dry soil in coniferous forests and mate over land, and the only deer flies I have ever seen in a trout stream are the ones I swatted from around my head, gleefully crunched between my fingers, and tossed into the water.

I am having fun at the expense of one of the most devilishly productive dry flies ever invented. It is a traditional dry fly with classic lines, which means it does not look much like a mayfly. Yet during mayfly hatches, this grey-bodied, brown-and-black-and-white-winged fly catches trout even when pink-bodied, grey-winged Hendricksons are on the water. The Adams is known as a deadly fly during caddis hatches, yet it has upright wings and tails – appendages that adult caddis don’t sprout. In smaller sizes, it fools trout during Blue-Winged Olive and midge hatches.

Why does it work? We don’t know and probably never will. Trout may not see flies in their entirety, and may just pick out a certain pattern in the naturals and our imitations. Just use the Adams on faith, enjoy the fun of casting to rising trout, and delight in using a traditional pattern.”

Adams, a trout dry fly

Thread:                       Black 8/0 UniThread

Hook:                          Mustad 94840, size 10 - 24

Tail:                             Mixed brown and grizzly hackle fibers

Body:                          Dubbed muskrat fur

Wing:                          Hen grizzly hackle tips, or shaped using a wing burner               

Hackle:                       Mixed brown and grizzly dry fly hackle

Head:                          Black thread finished with ProLac Head Cement

Please stay on the line …