Hornberg

Trout · Brook trout · GraylingFilm

A silver-bodied, mallard-flank fly that fishes dry on the drop and wet on the swing — the great hedge-your-bets searching pattern. Greased it rides the film like a struggling sedge; let it sink and it pulses like a tiny minnow.

Fish this when

When nothing is obviously hatching and you want one fly that covers both surface and just-under. Deadly on freestone pocket water and lake margins for brook trout.

Why it works

The cocked jungle-cock-cheeked profile reads as either an emerging caddis or a fleeing fry depending on how it is fished, so a fish takes it for whatever it is hunting.

Naturals it imitates