Adams Fly

The Adams Fly The Adams fly is one of the most well-known flies in fly fishing. Even if you don’t dry fly fish you probably have a few r...

The Adams Fly

The Adams fly is one of the most well-known flies in fly fishing. Even if you don’t dry fly fish you probably have a few roaming around your fly box. Not only is it well-known and extremely effective, it is also one of the first all American fly patterns to be used.

The Adams is the gold standard of Mayfly Dry flies.  It also works well as a general attractor pattern.

We are going to go over the humble begins of the Adams fly and the many different variations that have developed off of the very first Adams.

It all started in 1922 in a small town in Michigan called Mayfield. There are a few conspiracies and different variations of how the Adams came to be, but the most predominate is what follows:

Leonard Halladay and Charles Adams were fishing buddies. Halladay tied the first Adams fly and Charles Adams caught the first fish on it. Holladay figured since Charles caught the first fish on the new fly the fly should be named after him. The new fly became the Adams fly.  In the history books, Holladay went down as the mastermind of the Adams fly; and that is where the conspiracies and variations start to differ.  Some believe that Charles was the true mastermind behind the design of the fly and Holladay was just the one that tied it, therefore Charles deserves the credit. But, at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter.  We weren’t there and we aren’t here to give or take credit from the two.  All that matters is it catches fish.  The two of them created one of the first American fly patterns that really stood the test of time. Just like how the story of how the Adams came to be the fly has many variations itself which we are going to explain in the rest of the article.

The recipe of the original Adams is a little unknown, but for the most part it contained black thread, brown and grizzly hackles, and dubbed muskrat. Some say that the original used a grey wool yarn, but that seems to be debatable.  Over the years, materials have varied and different materials are used in the variations. The Adams fly is so popular that we refer to the color of that fly as Adams Grey. Adams Grey is a color of dubbing that most of us would buy today.

Variations

Parachute Adams

The Parachute Adams is one of the most popular Adams variation. It was even voted in American Anglers as the top ten all-time trout patterns, and for good reason. There are 3 big reasons for the Parachute Adams' success. 1. The parachute design allows the fly to sit lower in the water, allowing it to appear like a real fly being caught in the surface film of the water. 2. The hackle is wrapped around the y-axis of the fly instead of the x-axis. This allows the hackle to appear more like insect legs. 3. Even though the fly sits lower in the water, the parachute post allows it to be very visible to the angler. This doesn’t just make it easier to see, but also a more enjoyable fly to fish. There is also a hi-vis variation of the Parachute Adams to make it even easier to see.

Adams Extended Body

The Parachute Adams Extended Body is a great pattern for when you are surrounded by bigger drake flies. The extended body also adds extra buoyancy which can helpful when used with a dropper.

Adams Wulff

Lee Wullf created the Wulff pattern in the late 1920s. He used hair in place of feathers for the wings. This creates a fuller fly which allows is to float higher. The Adams Wulff is one of the many variations of the classic pattern. it is high floating, durable and easy to see for angler and fish alike. Useful in high water and slack water.

Adams Female

Adams Female is great option for a cast and see when nothing seems to be going on. Tied with a yellow butt to look like an egg sac. Can be used to imitate a bunch of different mayfly hatches including baetis, callibaetis, and the drakes.

Adams Wet Fly

It’s a shame, but fish are often not feeding on the surface. That’s when you need a classic Adams variation with a wet fly emerger wing. A great option for when fish are hitting emergers just below the surface. Swing this across a riffle when fish are in shallow, eating emergers and hang on!  Used to imitate all mayfly nymphs.

Irresistible Adams

To give it even better flotation, the "irresistible" has a super-buoyant deer hair body.  This is a great
pattern to fish in choppy water, and even the smallest of sizes will stay on top longer than most other patterns. 


The Adams fly is iconic, and because of that, there are a ton of variations of the original. So many that we couldn’t possibly talk about all of them. Which Adams fly is right for you? The classic? The Wulff? It is hard to say. What fish decide to eat is sometimes a mystery and that is part of the fun of fly fishing. All you can do is try out different patterns, find what your local fish are hungry for, and what you have fun fishing.


Hope you get on the water soon.

-Matt