Humpy

Extra-buoyant and versatile attractor. Stays visible and afloat in fast, broken water.

Printed on the 9 of hearts

The Humpy is a strange-looking fly built around one idea: flotation. A shell of deer hair pulled over a floss underbody traps air, and a heavy double hackle keeps the whole thing riding high. In whitewater, plunge pools and boiling pocket water where a conventional dry is drowned within two drifts, a Humpy is still up and visible.

It imitates nothing in particular and reads as everything in general — a stonefly, a big caddis, a beetle blown in from the bank. Fast-water trout make quick decisions on limited information, and a chunky buoyant silhouette drifting overhead is enough information.

It is a genuinely difficult fly to tie well, which is why fewer people fish it than should. In high-country cutthroat streams and steep freestone creeks it remains one of the most effective dry flies available.

What does a Humpy imitate?

Nothing specific — a buoyant rough-water attractor.

How do you fish a Humpy?

Short casts into heavy pocket water and plunge pools. Keep the line off the water with a high rod and fish the two or three feet of good drift you get before drag sets in.

When should you fish a Humpy?

Summer on freestone and mountain streams, especially in fast broken water where flotation is the limiting factor.

What are the quick tips for fishing it?

• Yellow and red are the classic underbodies; both work.
• A superb dry-dropper anchor for steep water.
• If it is not floating, you are not fishing it in the water it was designed for.

How is a Humpy tied?

• Hook: standard dry fly, #10-#18
• Thread: yellow or red 6/0
• Tail: elk or moose hair
• Underbody: floss
• Overbody: deer hair pulled forward as a hump
• Wing: deer hair tips, upright and divided
• Hackle: grizzly and brown, mixed

Dressings vary by tier and region. Treat this as the common recipe, not the only one.