Daddy Long Legs - Crane Fly
gold head version - not strictly a dry fly
This is an ancient fly. The famous historic Fly Fisher Cotton mentions this fly in his book 'The Compleat Angler' but uses the Olde English name for the cranefly 'Harry Long-Legs'. In one of the first books written on the subject of fly fishing in English 'The Treatysse of Fysshynge With an Angle' published in 1496 written by the Abbess of Shropshire, Dame Juliana Berners the tenth fly recommended for use is believed to be the Cranefly. In those days the knightly gentleman fly fisher would catch the natural insect and attach it to his hook. The sporting fly fisherman of today prefers to use an artificial imitation of the cranefly Daddy Longlegs
