Martyn White | Thursday, 11 September 2025
Since I'm still not getting out fishing, I thought I'd write about another beastie this week. As it's that getting time of year and I mentioned them last week, I thought I'd go with daddies.
For a lot of us the daddy is the last decent terrestrial fall of the season, and it can be a goodie. Plus, fish will usually respond to them even when the naturals aren't around. As such there are loads of patterns to imitate them, everything from booby daddies, to dapping flies and all kinds of stuff in between. For me, and probably most reasonable people, it's the dry fly that's most interesting. Nowadays there are so many options to choose from, but I only think that you need one or two. Foam seems to have established itself as the most popular body material and it certainly has its advantages; it's easy to tie with, it's less hassle on the water and often more durable than more traditional options like deer hair. Certainly a foam daddy has its place and they do work especially if it's choppy or you want to pull them to create a bit of fish attracting disturbance, as a bonus they're the a great top dropper on a team of wets. But I'm not sure they're necessarily the best dry fly option most of the time. I've never been a huge fan of detached bodies on the bigger flies like daddies and mayfly as I find them to be comparatively poor hookers. Although admittedly, foam is more forgiving than the old deer hair bodies which helps on that front.
For me, something with a higher hook to dressing ratio that sits lower in the film is the most productive. That necessitates a long shank hook, something I generally try to avoid in favour of a larger standard shank hook for more gape but they never look right, so I make the exception. A dubbing body is ideal, you could use raffia or something else but dubbing seems to be the best balance of relative durability and provides a bit of buoyancy in the body. This style also fishes very well when it's drowned.
Hook: short shank special 8 or 10 Hook: B830 size 10
Thread: tan 8/0 Thread: black 8/0
Abdomen: tan, orange, brown foam Body: mole fur
Thorax: hare's ear or just thread Wings: hackle tips
Wings: hackle tips Hackle: grizzle or ginger, clipped underneath.
Legs: knotted pheasant tail Legs: knotted pheasant tail tied under the shank
Hackle: cree, barred ginger or whatever saddle.
Back and head: body foam
Something I often wonder about is the persistence of pheasant tail legs, they look great but they’re not the most durable. Daddies tied with fine flexi floss do work and the legs are pretty tough, but I think it still comes down to aesthetics for most people, we’re just conditioned to seeing the pheasant tail legs, and they do look better. Maybe they’re just durable enough to stop the shift..
Next week I’ll do something about wet and other daddies…