What's this called?

[iamasmith]

Appeared in a book under the name Black Gnat... it obviously isn't.

I tied it up because it looks nice... is it a Black Quill dry variant?

[greenock]

I've seen black gants tied like that just be someoones version of it.

[iamasmith]

The really odd thing is the book gives the traditional dressing of black cock tail and black dubbed body alongside this pic

[stevekale]

Given buzzers don't have tails many argue a Black Gnat shouldn't have one. The other school of thought is that there needs to be something to support the hook bend.

[palindromic_bob]

It does look like the winged variant of a black gnat. Picked up a few of these when I started fishing the other week. Had more luck with the non winged variant.

[fredaevans]

What you see is very typical of a Black Gnat tied as we see them here in America. Here's a sample: Fly Tying Pattern Archives - Terrestrials - Black Gnat - Fly Fishing Connection Credit where credits due: "Black Gnat Dry Fly: An English pattern that dates back to the late 1700's and was widely used by our early Colonial fly fishermen. This fly has evolved since the early days given the use of modern tying materials and continues to catch fish. This truly is a timeless pattern that can be found in fly boxes anywhere USA." (Pattern shown is also double winged.)

If you Google black gnat fly pattern you'll find a few others (lots of hits actually), but most are going to be on the lines of the above.

fae

[iamasmith]

It's not the wings I was actually wondering about.

To me the wings and the hackle are absolutely Black Gnat, it was the Peacock Quill body and lack of a tail that I thought different on this fly. My image of a black gnat is like the one linked by fredaevans, black dubbed body and a few stands of black cock hackle for the tail with the same wings (light section of a Mallard duck primary in this case) and a Black Cock hackle.

I have seen the midge variant on size 20 and smaller without the wing too of course.

[iamasmith]

Originally Posted by stevekale

Given buzzers don't have tails many argue a Black Gnat shouldn't have one. The other school of thought is that there needs to be something to support the hook bend.

Yeah, I have to agree these are much closer to the prevalent chironomid that we have near us.. just short of some tiny fluffy horns.

[fredaevans]

Good catch there Andy; the lack of tail floated (bad pun intended) right by me in my 'dotage.' One look at the fly and (as little as I remember about 'drys' anymore) it was an instant 'Ah Ha!' from my callow youth.

Fred