The Mia Fly

Dogs and flies are two things that go fine together

Get youself a dog and tie a Mia Fly

Pattern by Mark Vagn Hansen

Using dogs hair for flies is probably quite common. Most dog owning fly fishers have probably combed their dogs and been struck by the fact that dogs' hair would make a fine dubbing material. Photographer Mark Vagn Hansen did so with his dog Mia, and wound up tying a very productive pattern used for sea trout and - naturally - named it The Mia Fly.

Grub like

The fly uses the same basic structure as another of Mark's files, the Dalby Dribbler. The concept with two hackles is know from the grub and shrimp types of salmon flies, nad indeed works very well for sea trout too.

Hair sources

You can pick up dog hair in many places. This was found in a local park.

If you do not own a dog, then give your dog loving friends a bunch of small ziplock bags, and have them fill the bags each time they groom their canine friends. Notice that puppet hair is best and that you want all the hair - guard hairs and underfur. The long often soft guard hairs combine well with the finer and often lighter underfur. Use a coffee grinder to mix the different materials and be careful not to overload it with too much material at once. Using dogs hair will generally mean very little control with colors - unless you have access to the same dog or species of dogs for a long time.

Materials:

Holographic tag and dog hair body on the Mia Fly

Tying instructions

1. Start tying thread behind eye and cover two thirds of the hook shank
2. Tie in tinsel under the shank over the point of the hook and wind towards the rear of the hook
3. Make a tag reaching the point over the tip of barb and return to tying in point
4. Tie off the tinsel and cut surplus
5. Prepare a fairly large hackle - approx. twice the hook gap - by removing plumulacous part
6. Tie in a base first, shiny side forwards and wind 3-4 turns as a classical wet fly style
7. Cut surplus
8. Tie in copper wire under the hook shank
9. Dub the thread and wind forwards in close turns to form a thick, flufy body
10. Wind ribbing with 4-5 turns in opposite direction
11. Tease out the body with velcro
12. Prepare a second hackle
13. Tie in a base first, shiny side forwards and wind 3-4 turns similar to rear hackle
14. Tie of and cut surplus
15. Form a small head
16. Whip finish and varnish