Blue Dun??

[Aqueous1025 0]

Ive always wondered, a lot of tying lists call for blue dun hackle. When you buy hackle it is listed as natural dun which looks like a cream. I also always see light medium and dark gray died dun.

Where does the blue fit into the picture?? Would be becuase some people see one of the died gray ones as more of a blue gray?? I know that this is probably quite a stupid question , but it is confusing none the less to me and I keep running round and round in my head with this trying to figure it out. Funny though as soon as someone tells me I know I'll start seeing the answer to this question in every book site and etc... LOL

[rockworm 0]

Yep, it is very confusing! I have no idea where the Blue part of the name comes from. As I see it, blue dun is a "cool" grey as opposed to a "warm" grey. A "warm" grey would have hints of brown or red in it. BTW I have also seen rabbit's underfur refered to as blue dun.

[Soft-hackle 0]

Hi,

Maybe I can help. Blue dun is a medium shade of gray, so medium blue dun hackle is pretty much what is meant by "Blue Dun". A blue dun which has a creamy look to it might be called Honey dun, and is quite prized, today. Fly dressings usually distinguish whether to use dk. blue dun, light blue dun, or just blue dun. The term blue dun probably evolved from the term Bloa. as in bloa dun-used in England to distinguish a rather distinct gray- the color of a stormy sky. The term Bloa blae was used to describe such a sky. If you look up the famous pattern called a Waterhen Bloa, you should see a soft-hackle dressed with waterhen hackle of beautiful "Blue dun" color. The body is also lightly dubbed with blue dun water-rat over yellow thread.

 

Mark

[utyer 0]

I thnik Soft Hackle has it right. The term refers to a smokey gray color, and there are shades from light to dark. Any with a touch of brown, are known as rusty blue duns (my favoite of the group, and hard to find.) Red hackles are really a brown color, and get their name from the Rhode Island Red chickes where they come from. One other color name is also highly variable, Ginger can be anything from a very light tan to a red/brown color. Any orangey tan light to dark could be called ginger.

[Aqueous1025 0]

WOW, nice to know stuff there and interesting too. I knew there would be some logic behind it, it justed escaped me.

 

Thank you guys and any other commenters

 

I always find the little trivial type things so interesting, you never know what you will learn.

[tidewaterfly 0]

Also, to add to what Soft Hackle has said, I think if you take a look at the actual mayflies that are imitated by the various flies ( Blue Dun, Blue Wing Olive, Quill Gordons, Blue Quill & Hendricksons) that call for blue dun, you may see that most have a bluish gray coloration to them, or at least part of them. I think that early tiers used the term to describe that color, but, since it's nearly impossible to get those exact shades with hackle, fur & dyes, the various shades of gray or dun have just stuck in pattern descriptions. Blue dun is just one such description, and as Soft Hackle has said, is usually meant to be a medium dun gray.

 

I've also read that "dun" was & is a term used to describe a coloration in horses, so it just may be that early tiers, before auto's, also used it because it was something they were familiar with.

[perchjerker 0]

One very critical element that has been left out in the previous responses (+, by the way) is that it is highly unlikely that any two individuals, picked at random, will see the same color the same way. Just look at a set of paint samplers with your spouse or 'significant other', for example.

[feathers5 0]

One very critical element that has been left out in the previous responses (+, by the way) is that it is highly unlikely that any two individuals, picked at random, will see the same color the same way. Just look at a set of paint samplers with your spouse or 'significant other', for example.

 

 

I heartily agree. The easiest thing to do is to catch one of the bugs and match the color yourself. Always remember that your tied fly when wet will be a little darker in color than the dry shade of dubbing you've used.

[Al Beatty 0]

Ive always wondered, a lot of tying lists call for blue dun hackle. When you buy hackle it is listed as natural dun which looks like a cream. I also always see light medium and dark gray died dun.

Where does the blue fit into the picture?? Would be becuase some people see one of the died gray ones as more of a blue gray?? I know that this is probably quite a stupid question , but it is confusing none the less to me and I keep running round and round in my head with this trying to figure it out. Funny though as soon as someone tells me I know I'll start seeing the answer to this question in every book site and etc... LOL

 

Hi Aqueous1025,

 

All of the posters have made good points. Also consider that a number of years ago the blue dun feathers came from birds with "blue" in their name; Andalusian <SP> Blue was one such breed that comes to mind but there may have been others, I don't remember. Take care & ...

 

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGA/Andal/BRKAndalusians.html

[Aqueous1025 0]

Thank you all again, very intersting stuff. Having a forum is so nice for the collection of information one can gather from it. :-)

[Soft-hackle 0]

Hi Al,

Absolutely. It'd be interesting to see why these particular breeds had "Blue" in their names. I'd venture a guess it was still probably derived from either the French bleu or the English bloa referring to a particular gray coloration.

 

Mark

[narcodog 0]

If you are really interested in the colors of feathers here is the bible, so to speak. The Book of the Hackle by Frank Elder. It's not cheap but it's worth it if you are interested in the subject.

[TU man 0]

The perfect match was blue heron. But that was the good ol days unless you come across a fresh dead one along the stream

[mikechell 0]

Where do you guys come up with all of this "information"?

 

It's quite obvious to me ... the Blue Dun is the one that is sad because all the other Duns are laughing at it.

[ColindaFlyguy 0]

Blue dun is very hard to get. Cuzz there is not meany blue dun rosters. they may put a slight dye of blue in the hackle. cream, dun or any grayish blue hackle would be a dun. I never had a cape but read and read about hackle and capes. If the pattern calls for it by a half or a 1/2 saddle to see how it works. then if you like the color then buy i cape at a fly shop. Dun is more or a term rather then a color. a cream neck is a dun in the respect cuzz of the lack a pigment. it is the same for a sandy dun. it may have been dyed with a slight of ginger or brown in it. Just go and but a cape and look at it to see if that cape is the color you want