Dahlberg Diver

Created by Larry Dahlberg in the 1970s, the Dahlberg Diver is a buoyant deer-hair pattern designed to move between the surface and the water immediately below it. A strip causes the tapered head to push water and dive, while a pause allows the fly to rise again, suggesting an injured baitfish or struggling frog. It is especially effective for largemouth and smallmouth bass, northern pike, and striped bass when predators are feeding near the surface, and it is commonly worked with an irregular strip-and-pause retrieve on a floating line. The pattern's principal tying challenge is spinning, packing, and trimming the deer hair into a symmetrical diving head while preserving sufficient hook-gap clearance and keeping the feather tail centered to reduce fouling. This fly can be tied in many different color combinations.

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Recipe

Hook · standard saltwater hook sizes 2 and larger
Thread · fluorescent yellow-chartreuse 6/0
Weed guard · heavy clear monofilament
Tail · two matched fluorescent chartreuse grizzly saddle hackles
Flash · fluorescent chartreuse Krystal Flash
Head and collar · chartreuse deer belly hair
Finish · fly-tying cement, glue, or UV resin
Collar · chartreuse marabou

Tying Instructions

1

Secure the hook in the vise, start the thread behind the eye, and wrap a smooth thread base rearward to the beginning of the bend.
2

Select two matching grizzly saddle hackles and align their tips.
3

Tie the hackles flat and centered on top of the shank as a paired tail, leaving the stems attached until the feathers are positioned securely.
4

Fold two strands of Krystal Flash around the tying thread and secure them over the tail, then trim the flash slightly shorter than the hackle tips.
5

Trim the weak tip from a marabou plume and tie the feather in by its tip in front of the tail.
6

Palmer the marabou forward for three or four turns, sweeping the fibers rearward after each wrap to form a mobile collar.
7

Secure and trim the marabou stem, then build a small thread dam in front of the collar to hold the fibers back.
8

Cut a pencil-thick clump of deer belly hair and measure the tips to approximately half the length of the marabou collar.
9

Secure the deer hair with two or three loose thread wraps followed by several tight wraps, allowing the hair to flare and spin completely around the hook shank.
10

Build a thread dam in front of the first clump and repeat the deer-hair spinning process with additional clumps, packing the hair tightly and working toward the hook eye.
11

After the final clump, build a thread dam behind the eye, complete two or three whip finishes, and apply glue or resin to the thread wraps.
12

Trim the spun deer hair evenly around the hook to form a dense, tapered diving head.
13

Cut the underside of the head flat with scissors or a sharp razor blade to expose the hook gap, improve tracking, and promote secure hooksets.