Name
DSS
Type
Dry
Author
Dr Paul Davis
Inspiration
Name is abbreviation of Davis’ Squirrel Sedge but also a (bad) pun on Department of Social Security (and Alf Garnet once said, ‘we all know what the SS stands for in DSS, don’t we my little Führer’).
Date concieved
March 2009
Hook
Size 12 Down-eyed Dry Fly hook
Thread
Purple (e.g. Uni-Thread 8/0 Purple)
Weighting
N/A
Tail
N/A
Body
4 or 5 strands of Heron herl.
Rib
None
Thorax
N/A
Legs
N/A
Wings
Underwing of blue/grey CdC (e.g. Marc Petitjean shade 1)
Overwing of Grey Squirrel tail fibres (stacked level and tied in as a hair wing)
Eyes
none
Hackle
N/A
Tying instructions
Make sure you treat the squirrel hair (but not the body) very well with floatant e.g. Watershed before tying it in. Also, tie the tips of the grey squirrel tail fibres level with the bend of the hook.
Fishing Instructions
Fish as a general sedge pattern – also does well when Pond Olives (Cleon dipterum) are hatching.
Interesting facts
Based on an un-named pattern by D.W. Roxborough described in his undated pamphlet ‘A Brief Guide To The Hill Loch Fishing Of Gairloch and District
Variants