The materials used in the Griffith’s Gnat are simple, almost to the point of being dull. Yet, when framed correctly, they can nonetheless take on a sort of elegance. Photo: Joakim Andreassen

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
—Emily Dickinso

Few flies are as unassuming as the Griffith’s Gnat. A single strand of peacock herl is wrapped around a tiny hook shank, forming what is meant to resemble an insect’s body. Rooster hackle is wound around the peacock herl so that the fibers jut out in all directions. The fly is then finished with a thin copper wire spiraled through the hackle, providing some semblance of structure. It only half works. The Griffith’s Gnat mostly resembles dust and fibers—something I might have found wedged between the seat cushions of my old Mitsubishi Space Wagon.

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