Step 1. Cut a strip of 2 mm. craft foam into 5 mm. wide pieces. Strip a pair of Saddle Hackles, leaving the stems.
Step 2. Cut a piece of the 5 mm. strip about 2 ½ - 3 inches long. Fold the foam over and trim the corners.
Step 3. Put the saddle hackles in the foam, one out either side. Wrap the thread 3 turns at the end of the foam, adjust to the way you want it to look; I use 2-3 mm.
Step 4. Slide the thread inside the foam and advance forward and wrap again. Do this to form the sections of the abdomen.
Step 5. Insert the size 6-8 hook in the center of the foam. The size hook will depend on the size of fly you want. I used the Dai-Riki #075, Size 8, a 2X, 1X short hook. The shank is about 15 mm. long and the abdomen is about 15 mm.
Step 6. Secure the foam to the hook and adjust the hackle stems to form the antennae.
Step 7. Tie in legs using an "X "tie in. The legs are made from the bristles of a small brush; Japanese Nymph legs can be used. I cut the leg to a length of about 30 mm.
Step 8. After tying in the legs I like to use some Zap-A-Gap to secure them.
Step 9. After the glue has dried, use yellow dry fly dubbing and form the thorax of the fly.
Step 10. Select your favorite wing material; cut into a 4-5 mm. strip; trim the head end and tie in.
Step 11. Use a black or dark brown marker and put some markings on the fly. Not necessary for fishing but it looks good to the fisherman! I put marks on the top and bottom.
Step 12. Align the wing, put a small amount of dubbing on the thread, advance to just behind the second legs and tie in the wing; whip finish and tie off. Trip the back end of the wing to the right length and trim the corners a little. Trim the hackle to form the tails and antennae.
Step 13. Heat bodkin or large needle, but not too hot, and don’t burn yourself. If the bodkin is too hot you will melt the legs in half.
Step 14. See pictures for the angles I used or do your own.
Step 15. Color the legs with a yellow marker; do the top and bottom.
Step 16. Use a brown or black marker and add detail to the joints of the legs.
Step 17. Look at your yellow stone!
This week’s typing tip is in response to a question by Hatches reader, Nick S. from Boise, ID. Nick wanted to know if we had any suggestions for a small, lightweight fly tying vise to use streamside, or on backcountry fly-in/ hike-in fly fishing trips.
GLOBE PEQUOT ( THE LYONS PRESS, FALCON), November 1997
Binding Type: Hardcover
Retail Price: $16.95 at the Hatches Store
ISBN: 1-55821-067-9
“The trout’s biggest advantage is selectivity, and we can counteract it only by knowing the insects that make up his diet. This is the reason for the study of stream entomology by the angler, and it is often the weak link in his skill.”
-Ernest Schwiebert
Trout Stream Insects: An Orvis Streamside Guide is by no means a new book. However, since it was first published in 1990, it has successfully been introducing novice …
Called the “bobbin of bobbins,” Marc Petitjean’s “Thread Through Bobbin,” aims to solve a few classic design limitations of standard bobbins.
Sand Creek is a pretty little piece of trout water that harbors some very fussy fish. Clear water in a small creek demands a quiet approach; casting from the bank is a good strategy when fishing small flies to springtime trout. Photo by Russ Forney
Springtime in Wyoming can be pretty elusive. Just when the first flush of prairie wildflowers sweetens the air, the next storm buries them under a foot of snow. Somewhere between the first Meadowlark and the last new calf, winter finally begins to relax its icy grip. …
With rubber legs showing up in more and more fly patterns, one common problem fly tier’s are facing is that they get in the way when tying a whip finish knot. In this week’s Tying Tips, Hatches Magazine staff member Alex Cerveniak shares three quick and easy ways to keep those rubber legs out of the way.
|  Hatches is an annual publication with a strong devotion to professional writing, beautiful photography and informative articles pertaining to both the artistic and practical aspects of fly tying. Each issue features 13 featured articles that span a massive 96 pages.
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