Vincent Marinaro The Thorax Style Dun
Above photo: One of the geniuses of the American dry fly, Vincent C. Marinaro.
If someone were to ask me who my favorite fly fisher from the past was, Vincent Marinaro would be my first and only answer. He is undoubtedly the most observant, creative, and inventive fly fisher ever. He was an avid bamboo fly fisherman and understood the vast range of tactility and precise control a bamboo rod was capable of. In his mind, it was the ultimate delivery system to cast a fly. I would have to say his inventiveness as a fly tyer won him a one-way seat on the Hogwarts Express.
Above photo: The thorax style dun was a level up in the fly tying world in 1976. This illustration by Pearce Bates from Marinaro's book clearly shows how this “X” wrap is achieved by creating a crisscross wrap around the thorax and the wings. The intended result splays the hackles forward and backward. Easier said than done, and I'm speaking from a lot of experience with this pattern; it takes a lot of patience and practice, and making sure the proportions are correct on the thorax ball.
There is a fly that made an indelible mark on the fly-tying community that would continue to influence mayfly patterns for over 50 years, and that mark still lives on today. The “thorax style dun” is probably one of Marinaro's most iconic flies. It embodies his ideals, creativity, and deep insights, and the fly has stood the test of time in my boxes and those of thousands of other fly fishermen around the world. Marinaro gave us some really good insights for better dry fly success.
The adult mayfly dun has long been an iconic symbol in the fly-fishing world. It beckons anticipation and seasonal inspiration and, most of all, symbolizes a hatch that triggers rising trout.
Above photo: A box of thorax style mayfly duns. This is typically a box I carry at the beginning of the season that slowly dwindles down to just baetis patterns towards the end of the summer months. I spend the winter tying these and am always trying to improve on Vincent's time-tested geometry. I still use hen-tip wings after 30 years and employ techniques using quilled bodies, biots, and Kapok thoraxes for improved flotation.
Above photo: Creating a uniform thorax ball is essential when tying this fly, as seen here on this very small baetis. Notice where the bases of the wing stems are. They sit literally on either side of the thorax. This will give your crisscross wraps space between the wings.
Above photo: Notice how the sparse hackle cants and splays from sitting on the curvature of the thorax ball. Using only three turns of hackle, as Marinaro states, is essential.
The “X” wrap is difficult. Here are some reasons why: the tendency is to squash the wings while wrapping or for the hackle to lay asymmetrically, which throws the dun out of balance and causes it to keel incorrectly. It's a delicate balance that, at first, seems downright impossible to achieve any range of consistency. The thorax ball is essential and must be spherical to help the hackle splay correctly.
Above photo: A quiver of my thorax style Hendricksons.
Here are some helpful hints that I have found after endless hours of expletives and the frequent onset of Tourette's syndrome:
1) Make sure your thorax is shaped like a sphere on both sides of the wing. If you do not do this the hackle fibers will not splay correctly.
2) Use sparse hackle from a traditional neck. Do not use the long primo genetic saddle hackle that has a bazillion fibers on 6-mile-long stems. These stems are often too stiff, and the fiber count is too high; you will end up with a bottle-brush hackle collar. Yes, sometimes genetic progress actually sucks.
3) Wind the stem like you would wind an A.K. Best mayfly spinner. By this, I mean keep your wing stem bases far enough apart to give the stems real estate to occupy. This is most important. On spinners, typically those wings are set at great distances on the thorax. This will only help you make the “X” wrap more achievable and consistent from one fly to the next.
4) Marinaro creates the splayed hackle collar in 3 turns of hackle; when you try this for the first time, you will appreciate how tricky this really is to get right. Practice patiently, and it will come with time. If your proportions are correct, whether it's a #14 or a #22 hook, it will work consistently.
“The thorax style of tie, even though increasingly popular, has not been fully appreciated. In any dry fly requiring very stiff hackle to make it float well, there is a serious problem created by such hackle even though it is desirable; it involves the business of hooking fish. This is caused by the fact that stiff hackles act as a guard in front of the hook point. (This was never very apparent with large flies and large hooks; but with the increasing and desirable use of small hooks and small flies, that stiff hackle guards the point even more efficiently than ever before, because as the bend narrows and the point gets closer to the shank, the point is guarded by the stiffest portion of the hackle.) The thorax style of tie, with the hackle splayed widely front and rear, eliminates the guard and exposes the point to allow free entry.”
~Vincent Marinaro
As stated above, so decisively Marinaro describes the phenomenon I call “hackle collar hiccup,” which causes the fly to literally pop out of the trout's mouth like a coughed-up hairball, especially in smaller sizes. When I read this paragraph over 30 years ago, it changed my fly tying forever. Always consider what is happening around the hook axis.
Remember, reading is important; stay in school, kids. The olde' guys like Marinaro know their stuff. There is content on YouTube, but not like this. Unless you read a book, you will forever be intellectually stunted by YouTube zombie land. Reading boosts neurotransmitter levels and helps prevent frontal lobe atrophy and the eventual premature decay of the prefrontal cortex. Endlessly scrolling on TikTok with no purpose or mindful creative capacity will destroy executive functions.
Please, pick yourself up a copy of Vincent Marinaro's book and read:
In the Ring of the Rise, published by Lyons & Burford.
Thanks for letting me share! As of today's entry, we are at 220k in readership!
Clint Bova
