Crystal flash or deer hair work great!

I used brushed out poly yarn.
Check out the photos on my profile if you wish.

he never said anything about using it for trout. i know bass will hit adult dragon flies, though. antron will work if you separate it a little and brush it out.

Sayfu, I must admit that I am not a very experienced fly fisherman, but I have fly fished for snook, redfish and even sharks. I do know that there are two basic types of flies, DRY and WET. The wet flies are designed to sink and work very good on salt water fish where I have mostly used them. Some fly lines are even made with lead cores so that they will sink. I learn something new each day and have an open mind, that is why I enjoy this open forum so much. It has a wealth of knowledge from the people that post here. I along with many other people do make mistakes, but it is never my purpose to mislead anyone. So if I was off too much on my suggestion, I will humbly appologize. Yet I have floated a paper clip on water hundreds of times to demonstrate the surface tension of water. Try it yourself with a common sewing needle. If the wings are made as I described and the body of the dragon fly is not too heavy, the surface area of the wings alone will float it merely from the surface tension of the water.

But you do describe a great way to make a dry fly and I agree whole heartly that your way will also work. Your experience with dry flies is much greater than mine and I gladly admit it. But, have tolerance for others that want to try new or different things which you may not agree with. Mibasshunter, just my be a "bass hunter" as the name implies and flies are used as an enticing, alluring, and tantalizing attractant for many species of fish from pan fish to sharks. And just because you have not tried it, do not knock it. What may work for one, may not work for another. It is the experimentation and trying of new and different things that has advanced our world so much. The adult dragonfly could just turn out to be the next new hot thing for fishing trout streams. Then again it may just be a good learning experience.

Santa. Remember, this IS a flyfishing site. There are other sites. Being that it IS a flyfishing site, I think he wants his dragonfly to FLOAT! Piano wire surely would not get it to float! Use a grey ZELON synthetic fiber, figure 8 it in at the thorax. Dub around the thorax with whatever dubbing you want, and done. I would be using a white piece of floating flyline that I water proof stripe market down it, and tied it in extending past the hook so that I could enhance the flotation, make the fly bigger on a smaller hook, say a #6, or # 8 dry fly hook. Then I would also use a piece of white, floating yarn tied in first as a post in the middle of my zelon wings,(done before I dub the thorax) prepare a grizzly hackle from a dry fly neck...one of the bigger ones, and parachute the pattern for floatation, with the hackle making the zelon wings look like they are flaring, and the white post so I can see it. Easy to apply flotant to the yarn post as well. Not easy to find a piece of old white, floating flyline. Many fly shops sell the stuff rolled up for an extended body on patterns like this...then you can just stripe the white...I use black and purple, but just black would probably do just as well also.

Sayfu, Blue styrofoam would make a nice dragonfly body and could be painted with latex paint to look real. It would not absorb water and would give a nice smooth surface more like the real thing. With a tail hook and a through wire along with mylar covered light wire wings, would look very real. The angle of the wings could be adjusted to make the thing to plane or dart or even dive on the retrieve when used as a bass lure. Bass do jump out of the water and take insects and small birds off low hanging limbs out over the water. Thus it might not be pratcical as a fly, but I bet it would make a great casting lure for bass.

And you are casting it using a flyrod no? ..not a bubble casting it with a spinning outfit. Here's the deal on those kind of wings. The thing about my wing is it is based on years of tying, and casting flies. What happens with wings that air can not pass through the wing when cast, is it helicopters, spins like a propeller, and twists up the leader. There are commercial wings sold like that for smaller flies, and they look realistic, but they do the spin thing if they do not lay flat over the body, but stand up at all, and don't work. And for the fishes reaction to them?...I take some motion over realism. If the fish sees the silhouette, and the wings would move some on the strip/stop..that, for me, is better than stiff, realistic wings. That is why the rubber legs have been such a strike trigger when used...motion, and it indicates to the fish it is a living organism.

Just remember this...Realistic flies, and there are some incredible realistic flies, by commericial tiers that tie at these big fly fishing sport shows....they look like they would crawl right off the table...do not fish worth a darn. Rigid, no movement. You need to know what a fish sees, and what "triggers" a strike. I use to wear a realistic looking crawdad in the front of a hat for show. You never do know all of that, but you can often get it right. Getting into the fishes world is a fun challenge. I'm an old fart now, and constantly try to solve the riddle, and never will get it right, but for a fraction of the time.

so Mibasshunter. You are wearing them in your lapel? Next time on your bass water look and see how many dragonflies you see on the water. I will say NONE. Fish of any kind can not capture a dragonfly. And I couldn't answer your question very well because I never fish a dragonfly ADULT. I do fish their close cousin, the smaller damselflies, but I would have to know that is what you are talking about because the hold their wings a certain way, and really no need to even duplicate their wings.

Sure people say it..I hear "for cryin out loud" all the time. But before tying those wings, you really should have known something about the dragonfly, and also about solid wings, and how they cast. Sayfu could have told you. Matter of fact, he tried to tell you.

Very true. Posters should better explain themselves. Bass would engulf a dragonfly, but still would bet they don't take the real thing but very, very seldom. Might just jump on a fly though. Sure wouldn't be my choice of flies. I'd rather choose something they would have a chance to feed on more often. Seldom will you ever see a dragonfly sitting on the water. On a stick up, but not on the water.