dfl 0 Report post Posted March 8, 2011 What makes a thorax type dry a thorax type dry? In other words, how is it different from a regular dry? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rockworm 0 Report post Posted March 8, 2011 In my view the thorax-type dry fly is not a type of fly, but more a style of tying. A catskill dry has its wings far forward- fairly close to the eye. For most of my dry flies (especially heavily-hackled ones) I move the wings back to about 1/3 of the distance between the eye and the hook bend. This gives me more room for hackle wraps in front of the wing. Putting the wings in the thorax-position makes it look more natural and IMHO also improves the fly's balance. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
halcyon 0 Report post Posted March 8, 2011 What makes a thorax type dry a thorax type dry? In other words, how is it different from a regular dry? If you are asking about the Vince Marinaro thorax dry flies and/or the Lawrence Threadgold footprint dry flies then what defines them both is the way the hackle is mounted. These types of flies are father and son of the same design. Namely, the hackle is tied in so that some faces backward and some faces forward creating a footprint on the water more closely imitating the footprint of the a real mayfly. Vince did this using two hackles (in his day dry fly hackles didn't have the length and stiffness of today's genetic hackle). Lawrence does it using a single longer hackle. Both methods produce the same cone of hackle points on the water. Lawrence has also extended this idea to caddis (Sedge in his native England) patterns. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
