What is Blue Dun?

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Tuesday, December 9. 2008

The colors we find in fly tying literature are baffling to us today. Where, for example, did they come up with the term "blue dun" or "golden dun"?

Examining the dictionary definition of "dun" gives us a starting point. "of a horse : having a grayish-yellow coat with black mane and tail" (Merriam-Webster Online)

The use of the term "blue dun" in fly tying predates the common use of the automobile. Needing a color description, it seems that the tiers turned to what would be most commonly understood and used horse colors as reference points. Thus, when documenting a fly pattern, "dun" would be broadly understood as being a "grayish-yellow." If in doubt, one only had to look out the window at horses going by in the street to understand the tier's intent.

Here then are some examples of duns:

Dun

Light Blue Dun

Blue Dun

Medium Blue Dun

A herd of Blue Dun from Light to Dark
A Herd of Blue Duns

A Pale (Champagne) Blue Dun
Dun

A Dark Blue Dun
Dun

and here is a link with yet more Dun colors.

Posted by Reed F. Curry in Fishing Facts and History at 12:16 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

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That's an interesting observation - and you're correct as always.

I've always used tabby cats as color samples - only because they used to be more common than horses ... They seem to get scarce whenever I move into a neighborhood...

I've always seen necks called "Iron Blue Dun" - yet they were closer to the "yellow/grey" color rather than a colder (steel/iron) color.

Horse #1 and #2 above would be the Iron Blues. Is this another regional difference (West Coast?).

#1 KBarton10 (Homepage) on 2008-12-10 09:32 (Reply)

some, not so blue at all

#2 dan (Homepage) on 2009-02-15 21:40 (Reply)

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