An easy to tie long floating dry fly inspired by Gary LaFontaine's "The Mess".  Thanks to the packing foam back and poly yarn wings this fly floats for a long time without shaking it out or even drying it off.  Perfect for long slow drifts on small streams where false casting to dry out the fly only decorates the trees.

Materials List:

1. Size 12 - 18 Tiemco 100(BL or SP-BL) or Diachi 1190
2. Cream colored thread (match dubbing) - Ultra Thread 70 or Uni 6/0
3. Deer hair - Natural color, fine
4. White or cream colored poly yarn
5. Synthetic dubbing - natural fur is fine, but usually gets soggy quickly
6. Packing foam - thin, closed cell sheets typically found around electronics

Deer hair patch.  I like to use the fine, soft hair for this fly.  Spinning hair can be a pain to tie down to the hook shank without it flaring all over the place.  Whatever you have will work, but if you have a choice, go with the softest stuff you can find.

Poly yarn.  Synthetic yarn will not take on water and clump together.

The step-by-step instructions follow on the next page.