Lady Heather

Designed by Gary LaFontaine, the Lady Heather belongs to a group of patterns that he called “BS” flies.  In this case Gary meant “before scuba”.  Known for donning scuba gear to observe the trout’s reaction to his creations, he developed this fly early in his career by trial and error.  Experimentation with patterns for grey overcast or rainy days led to this Trude style attractor.  Gary surmised that the large gray butt contrasting against the white wing provided the trigger that caused the fish to rise.  For this reason, the body is dubbed much thinner than the pronounced butt.

Hook : Dry fly; #10 – #18

Tail : Dark dun hackle fibers

Butt : Gray dubbing

Body : Cream dubbing

Wing : White widow’s web

Hackle : Dark dun dyed grizzly

Alan Bowers

Fly tied by Alan Bowers