Dry Fly

Black Gnat

Tied by Christian Andrews

Black Gnat recipe

Hook	#12 - 18 fine wire
Thread	Black
Tail	black hackle barbs
Wings	two sets dark gray quill, upright and divided
Body	small black chenille or fine black dubbing
Hackle	black rooster behind and in front of wings, sized to hook

an old English pattern adapted to Catskill style dry fly by Harry and Elsie Darbee from the recipe in The Founding Flies by Mike Valla

Described by Charles Cotton, 1676. Earliest vault record: little Black Gnat of black water-dog fur or coot down, white mallard wing, body as small as possible.Source: Cotton, The Compleat Angler Part II (1676), Elliot ed., May No.6 / June No.10
Described by Alfred Ronalds, 1836. Natural figured and dressed in the May catalogue.Source: Ronalds, The Fly-Fisher's Entomology (2nd ed. 1839; orig. 1836), No.20, p.76
Described by Mary Orvis Marbury, 1892. English makers give it lead-coloured wings; Americans usually dress it all black.Source: Marbury, Favorite Flies and Their Histories (1892), No.101
Described by Thomas Best. Little Black Gnat of black ostrich herl and pale starling wing.Source: Best, A Concise Treatise on the Art of Angling (vault copy c.1810 ed.; first pub. 1787), March and June lists
Originated by unknown, England. Cotton lists a little Black Gnat in March (No.6) and another in June (No.10). Traditional imitation of small black diptera; no maker recorded.Source: Cotton, The Compleat Angler Part II (1676), Elliot ed., May list No.6 and June list No.10

Where sources tell it differently, each account is listed with its own source.

Original dressing as pictured in Edmonds & Lee, Brook and River Trouting (1916), Plate p45, No. 22. The photo above is a later tie, not the original.

Inside the vault every material on this fly opens to its own card, and you can save the fly to your own boxes.