bluestreamflyFind water
Menu
Exact Red Quill and Hendrickson Sparkle Dun flies with upright deer-hair wings and trailing shucksReal photo · Red Quill and Hendrickson Sparkle Duns

Emerger · guide 33

Sparkle Dun

Craig Mathews's hackleless, flush-floating mayfly transition dry, distinguished from a Comparadun by its trailing Zelon shuck.

Common size
Hendrickson reviewed recipe: #12–16, BWO reviewed recipe: #18, other species may require different sizes; match measured naturals rather than treating #12–22 as interchangeable
Common colors
BWO olive with gray shuck, Hendrickson pink-tan with brown shuck, Red Quill brown or reddish-brown, other hatch-matched bodies and shucks kept explicitly labeled
Imitates
mayfly dun still attached to or struggling free of its shuck, low emerging-to-dun transition, hatch-specific mayfly dun when size and color match
How to recognize it

Look for an upright semicircular deer-hair wing, a low hackleless body and thorax, and a sparse trailing Zelon shuck. The shuck is the decisive difference from the separately photographed Comparaduns. In the Improved Sparkle Dun, the forward portion of the same Zelon bunch is bound along the shank and can add sparse flash behind the wing; body, shuck, size, and tone must be matched and labeled for the mayfly being imitated.

Orvis credits Craig Mathews of Blue Ribbon Flies with creating the Sparkle Dun by adding a Zelon shuck to Al Caucci's Comparadun, itself related to Fran Betters's Haystack. Orvis also records Mathews's later Improved Sparkle Dun treatment, which carries the forward Zelon behind the wing; Pat Dorsey dates Mathews's development to the late 1980s.
Exact Red Quill and Hendrickson Sparkle Dun flies with upright deer-hair wings and trailing shucks
Real photo · exact pattern

Red Quill and Hendrickson Sparkle Duns

Exact mixed-variant frame: one Red Quill and one Hendrickson Sparkle Dun. The names and warm body colors stay explicit; this is not a universal Sparkle Dun color recipe.

View
exact pattern — Red Quill and Hendrickson Sparkle Duns
Color shown
pink-tan bodies, deer-hair wings, trailing shucks
Look for
Two exact source-identified low dries show the semicircular deer-hair wings and trailing shucks in different hatch-specific body tones.
Open full-size photo ↗

On the water

Know when and how to fish it.

Use these tips as a starting point. The river, depth, insects, and fish behavior still decide the final presentation.

01

Why it works

  • Its hackleless abdomen rides flush in the film, matching the vulnerable low posture of a mayfly completing the transition to the dun stage.
  • The trailing shuck adds a clear transition cue while the upright fan wing remains visible to fish and helps the angler track the fly.
  • The architecture can be recolored and resized for verified mayflies without pretending a BWO, Hendrickson, Red Quill, PMD, Trico, or drake is the same insect.
02

When to use it

  • When mayflies are emerging and trout take duns or transition-stage insects sitting low in the film.
  • For selective risers in flats, spring creeks, tailouts, and soft seams where a higher hackled dry draws refusals or creates too much footprint.
  • Only after identifying the hatch closely enough to choose the relevant size, body tone, shuck color, and timing; the three photographs do not establish what is hatching on a river now.
03

How to fish it

  • Present the fly flush in the surface film on a drag-free drift through the fish's established rise lane.
  • Use fine, appropriate tippet and reach or aerial mends to control micro-drag before changing a correctly matched pattern.
  • Apply floatant sparingly to the deer-hair wing while preserving the low abdomen and trailing shuck at the waterline.
  • Change from BWO, Hendrickson, Red Quill, or another labeled form only from observed insect size, color, wing posture, and rise behavior.
04

Mistakes to avoid

  • Calling a shuckless Comparadun a Sparkle Dun or treating the Comparadun comparison photograph as another exact Sparkle Dun.
  • Labeling the paired Red Quill and Hendrickson group photograph as one fly shown twice or as two interchangeable colors of one hatch.
  • Using the BWO Olive photograph as a PMD, Hendrickson, Sulphur, Trico, or universal Sparkle Dun color reference.
  • Adding conventional collar hackle or a high post while retaining the exact reviewed identity without a variation label.
  • Overdressing the shuck or body until the fly loses its sparse, low-riding profile.

At the vise

Tie this version.

BWO Improved Sparkle Dun — reviewed Orvis size-18 form · intermediate

This exact guide is Orvis's BWO Improved Sparkle Dun. The second photograph is source-identified only as a BWO Olive Sparkle Dun, so this page does not claim that the pictured fly follows the exact Improved recipe. The paired hero shows separately named Hendrickson and Red Quill Sparkle Duns, whose body and shuck recipes differ. Original and Improved Zelon treatments, other mayfly colors, sizes, and materials must remain labeled rather than silently substituted.

Materials

Hook
2X-short emerger hook, size 18; Orvis demonstrates a Dai-Riki 125
Thread and abdomen
Olive 6/0 or 140-denier thread
Wing
Cleaned and stacked dun-colored deer hair
Trailing shuck and wing flash
Midge Gray Straight Zelon
Thorax and legs
A sparse amount of dark-olive Australian possum dubbing
Head
Olive tying thread
Preparation tool
Fine-tooth comb for removing deer-hair underfur and short fibers

Steps

  1. Start the olive thread one eye-length behind the eye and carry it rearward to about the hook point, preserving head space.
  2. Clean and stack a small clump of dun deer hair, measure an upright wing slightly longer than the hook shank, and secure it centered on top without allowing it to roll.
  3. Trim the hair butts close on a shallow angle so the underbody remains smooth rather than forming a bulky step.
  4. Tie Midge Gray Zelon on top with its forward end approximately matching the deer-hair wing, then bind the rear portion down the shank and slightly into the bend.
  5. Wind the olive thread forward in even touching turns to form the slim abdomen.
  6. Crease the deer hair upright, then use a very thin dark-olive possum dubbing noodle behind and in front of the wing to support it and suggest the thorax and legs.
  7. Whip-finish at the eye, clear the eye, and trim the trailing Zelon to approximately one hook-gap long while leaving the forward Zelon as sparse wing flash.

Tying source: BWO Improved Sparkle Dun Pattern & Tying Instructions ↗

Common variations

Small changes can make a different fly.

One verified, non-AI group photograph shows two exact source-identified Sparkle Duns—a Red Quill and a Hendrickson—rather than multiple angles of one fly. A second exact photograph shows a separately labeled BWO Olive Sparkle Dun, while the #18–#10 Comparaduns photograph is a named-pattern comparison only. None is a duplicate crop or a universal color guide for every Sparkle Dun hatch.

Hendrickson and Red Quill Sparkle Duns

One exact group photograph showing two separately named Sparkle Dun variants with fan-shaped hair wings and trailing shucks. It is one source image, not two independent viewing angles.
Colors shown
pink-tan Hendrickson, reddish-brown Red Quill, natural dun hair wings, brown to amber shucks
Weighting
Unweighted dry-fly forms; the photograph does not establish hook size, hidden treatment, or exact recipe for either tie.

BWO Olive Sparkle Dun

One exact source-identified BWO Olive Sparkle Dun with a low olive body, trailing shuck, upright deer-hair wing, and no conventional hackle collar. Its image source does not identify it as the exact Improved recipe used in this page's tying guide.
Colors shown
olive, gray shuck, dun deer hair
Weighting
No bead or external weight is visible; the image source does not establish hidden ballast, hook size, or the exact tying recipe.

Comparadun identity comparison

A separately named #18–#10 Comparadun assortment showing the shared upright fan wing but no defining Sparkle Dun trailing shuck.
Colors shown
multiple hatch-matched body colors, natural hair wings
Weighting
Unweighted dry-fly comparison; not a Sparkle Dun variation and not evidence for a PMD or Sulphur identity.

Related patterns

PMD Comparadun ↗Blue-Winged Olive Patterns ↗Hendrickson Patterns ↗Pale Morning Dun Patterns ↗Mayfly Patterns by Stage ↗

How this guide was checked

Fly information and photo sources.

Guide checked on 2026-07-13. Every image has its own source and usage record. Natural insects and hand-tied flies can vary in shape and proportion.

Pattern sources

Orvis Fly-Fishing Learning CenterBWO Improved Sparkle Dun Pattern & Tying Instructions↗Orvis NewsHow to Tie the Hendrickson Sparkle Dun↗Pat Dorsey Fly FishingMathew's Sparkle Dun↗

Image credits