Overview

Pat Dorsey built the Black Beauty in the early 1990s to match the dense drifts of midge pupae found below deep, bottom-release reservoirs, and it has been a tailwater staple ever since. The pattern is deliberately plain: a slim black thread body, fine ribbing and a sparse thorax, tied to the same narrow profile as the naturals trout see by the thousand in cold, clear water.

That simplicity is the point rather than a shortcut. The Black Beauty works because it does not overreach, and it keeps fooling selective fish on hard-pressed water across the country. It earned its name in March 1992 after a day on the Blue River near Silverthorne, where the pattern took a 26-inch rainbow and a fishing partner decided the fly deserved a better title than "black midge pupa". Fish it deep under an indicator, as the trailing fly on a two-nymph rig, or as a dropper through slow tailwater seams where a heavier pattern would look wrong. Tied here in sizes 18, 20 and 22 to cover the smallest naturals.Read More +