Griffith's Gnat
George Griffith's simple creation — peacock herl body, palmered grizzly hackle — imitates a cluster of spent midge adults floating in the film and is one of the most widely used midge patterns in the world. On tailwaters like the San Juan, South Platte, and Green River, it is the difference between a frustrating day and a fantastic one during blanket midge hatches. Fish it on 6X or 7X in slow current.
- Type
- dry fly (Midge)
- Hook sizes
- #16–24
- Target species
- trout
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Best seasons
- spring, summer, fall, winter
Materials
- hook: Dry fly hook #16–24
- thread: Black 10/0
- body: Peacock herl (1 strand)
- hackle: Grizzly rooster hackle palmered over body, dense
Tying steps
- Mount a size 16–24 dry fly hook; start black 10/0 thread at the bend.
- Tie in one strand of peacock herl and one grizzly hackle tip by the tips at the bend.
- Twist the peacock herl into a tight rope and wind forward to the eye.
- Palmer the grizzly hackle forward in 6–8 evenly spaced spirals over the herl body.
- Tie off the hackle just behind the eye.
- Build a tiny neat head and whip finish with 3 turns; apply UV resin to the head.
- Apply a micro-drop of head cement to the thread head only — keep it away from the hackle fibers.
- Hold the fly up to the light — the hackle wraps should be evenly spaced with no bare hook shank visible.
- Test proportions by holding the fly upside down — the hackle tips should extend no further than the hook point length below the shank.