Pale Evening Dun
The Pale Evening Dun imitates summer-emerging Heptagenia mayflies that appear in the last hour of light, triggering some of the most frenzied evening rises of the season. Its pale sulfur-yellow body and light dun hackle match the delicate coloration of this clinger-nymph adult perfectly. Fish it with a drag-free drift in the fading light on smooth water, where selective trout sip the dun with confidence.
- Type
- dry fly (Mayfly)
- Hook sizes
- #14–18
- Target species
- trout
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Best seasons
- spring, summer, fall
Materials
- hook: Dry fly hook #14–18
- thread: Yellow 8/0
- tail: Pale dun hackle fibers
- body: Pale sulfur or cream dubbing
- wing: Light dun hen hackle tips or CDC
- hackle: Pale dun or cream rooster hackle
Tying steps
- Mount a size 14–18 dry fly hook; start yellow thread at the bend.
- Tie in pale dun hackle fibers as a split tail.
- Dub a pale sulfur or cream body from bend to the 2/3 mark.
- Tie in light dun hen hackle tips or CDC as upright wings.
- Tie in a pale dun or cream hackle and wind 4–5 turns.
- Build a small head; whip finish and cement.
- Apply a tiny drop of head cement to the thread head only — keep any cement away from the CDC wing or hackle fibers.
- Inspect the fly in a glass of water — the body should ride horizontal in the film with the hackle tips touching the surface plane evenly.
- Check hackle fiber density from the front — fibers should radiate symmetrically on both sides with no crowding or gaps near the eye.