Dahlberg Diver

The Dahlberg Diver is one of the most influential deer-hair patterns ever created, designed by legendary angler and innovator Larry Dahlberg in the 1970s. Dahlberg wanted a surface fly that behaved like a wounded baitfish yet could dive, push water, and return to the surface without spinning or fouling — something no traditional popper could do at the time. His solution was the now-iconic wedge-shaped deer hair head, trimmed to create equal parts buoyancy and resistance. This shape lets the fly “dive” on the strip, wobble side-to-side, then naturally float back up like a struggling prey item. The design quickly became a staple for warmwater and saltwater anglers alike, and it remains one of the most copied deer-hair flies ever developed.

To get the Diver to make its signature “hunting” sweep, avoid long, hard strips. Instead, use a series of short downward pops with slack immediately fed back into the line. This allows the trimmed hair head to torque sideways unpredictably — the same erratic kick that triggers aggressive predatory strikes.