Instructions:

Tying Instructions

1.    Stack and tie in a bushy clump of deer hair for a short tail, about ¼ inch long.  Make sure you start with loose thread wraps so you don’t flare the hair out too much.  

2.    Tie in extra fine gold wire for a thin rib.

3.    Tie in a brown hackle feather sized to the hook you are using.

4.    Dub the abdomen of the fly with the yellow dubbing ¾ of the way to the head.

5.    Wrap the hackle forward in even spaces and tie off where the dubbing ends.  Counter wrap the wire rib forward to the same place.

6.    Stack and tie in a hefty clump of deer hair for the wing. Make it extend back over the entire body.   Secure the wing with a few wraps of thread.  Again, make sure to start with loose wraps to keep the hair from flaring. 

7.    Tie in a grizzly hackle then dub to just behind the eye with orange dry fly dubbing.  Palmer the hackle over the dubbing and tie off.

8.    Whip finish.

Comments

This is a very effective pattern in small streams in Arizona.  It is called an attractor pattern but can look like several different insects.  The broad silhouette and bushy wing mimic the blocky body and fluttering wings of an adult stonefly.   Use smaller sizes during a caddis hatch.  In late summer, plop it hard against the bank during grasshopper season.  Search pocket water and fast currents with this pattern-it's practically unsinkable-and don't be afraid to use a big one, even in smaller streams.  Also try using it with a nymph dropper trailing behind.

Try different colors of dubbing.  Tied in sizes 12-16 in tans and olives, it can be an excellent caddis imitation. Tied in sizes 6-16 in yellows, orange, olive and gray bodies it is a great stonefly pattern.  Also try a tan version with rubber legs in the summer when the fish have seen enough of the standard hopper patterns.  Also, try different colors of deer or elk hair.  I have recently started using a size 14 tied with peacock colored dubbing for the abdomen and blue dun dyed deer hair.  Will also work well with natural deer or bleached elk.

Cinda Howard

President – Desert Fly Casters