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| Black Gnat tied by Steven Bird |
When true simplicity is
gained...
This was one of Leisenring's favorite patterns, & for good reason. As a universal fish getter this pattern deserves a spot beside the venerable Hares Ear & Pheasant Tail Nymph. Tied in #12 through #18, this one will cover a lot of water. Leisenring’s Black Gnat embodies the basic values of the soft-hackle style: simplicity; motion; obfuscation.
This was one of Leisenring's favorite patterns, & for good reason. As a universal fish getter this pattern deserves a spot beside the venerable Hares Ear & Pheasant Tail Nymph. Tied in #12 through #18, this one will cover a lot of water. Leisenring’s Black Gnat embodies the basic values of the soft-hackle style: simplicity; motion; obfuscation.
What’s
in a [fly] name? Sometimes not much that is useful at first glance. I suspect
the main reason Leisenring’s Black Gnat doesn’t get the play it merits is
that most anglers nowadays relate the ‘Black Gnat’ moniker to a chenille-bodied, winged (both wet & dry) version with an impossibly red tail,
popular since the Victorian Era. Yet the name Black Gnat has been applied
to basic black fly patterns since before it was first mentioned in the
literature of 1600’s Britain; & those ancient versions more similar to
Leisenring’s than the chenille version most of us know as the Black Gnat, in our
time. And there is some repellent confusion about the ‘Gnat’ part of the name,
obviously. However that may be dispelled with the knowledge that the name has
come down from very long ago, a time when Saxons referred to streamborn
insects, simply, as ‘gnats’. Drawing water from the long stream, Leisenring had
no problem applying the old name to his pattern.
I like to fish this one behind a weighted skwala in winter/early spring, as the LBG serves to simulate midges & the water-born little black
winter stoneflies. Later, in spring & summer when there is a mixed smorgasbord of small
insects on the slick, a Black Gnat is excellent dressed to float & fished on
or just beneath the surface film, & I tie some on dry fly hooks for that
purpose. Leisenring’s recipe is thus:
Leisenring’s
Black Gnat
Hook: #12-#18 standard wetfly
Thread: Claret or vermillion
Body: Black silk or swords taken from a crow secondary wing feather (lacking the crow feather, the bronze/black portion of a turkey tail feather provides an excellent substitute), twisted with the tying thread
Hackle: Starling shoulder feather (or natural bronze/black hen ~ & finish with a full, tapered head.
Flyfish the Upper Columbia/NE Washington with Steven Bird: http://ucflyfishing.blogspot.com
