Tying Instructions:
1.
First off wrap a nice even base of thread starting from near the
front of the hook and extending to the point where you are going to
tie in your first part of the fly, the tail. This point should be
roughly level with the barb on the hook. Also cut two sections of
foam as shown and then move to step 2.
2.
Place these two pieces of foam on top of each other, black over
beige and tie in about 3/4 down hook shank. Wrap a number of turns
of thread in the same plane until the foam is securely anchored in
place. If using 6/0 you will find it difficult to get the foam as
secure as desired and we would recommend using at least the 3/0
preferably A+.
3.
Take
a section of rubber legs from your occy strap or from the packet if
you have bought them from a fly shop. Tie in on the side of body so
that the legs flare out. It might take some fiddling initially to
get it right but after a few goes you should be able achieve this
with very little effort. Once you have done this add a second set of
legs on the opposite side of the body.
5.
Now we are back in the horizontal plane. Now add some of the dubbing
to the thread and wrap a small ball of dubbing in front of foam.
This is not a must do it's just something that we have been shown
and have used on our CA patterns ever since.
6. Pull
the foam body over the top of the dubbed body with your right hand
while pinching a small hump in the foam with the thumb and
forefingers of your left hand (for right handed tier). You are then
right to tie in using several tight wraps in the same plane as in
Step 2.
7. We
can now start adding the second set of legs. Take a piece of your
rubber leg material and tie at the front (about 1/3 from eye of
hook)and again on the side. Don't worry if it is too long at the
moment as we will be trimming them later on. Notice the clearly
defined segmentation of the body that we have now.
8.
Add a second set of legs just as in earlier steps. The fly could be
pulled straight from the vice and fished as is but we will do a few
little things to finish off. Add a few more wraps in the same plane
for strength as we want this fly to be pretty much indestructible
9.
Again notice the segmented look of the fly and the oversized rubber
legs that give the fly an amazingly lifelike appearance when on the
water. Next step is to add a small sighting indicator as this can be
a tough pattern to see in rough water.
10.
Cut a small piece of Yellow closed cell foam. Tie in just above
dubbing and in the spot where you have just tied in your front set
of legs. You only need a few wraps to anchor this securely to the
fly and once again you don't have to add this to the fly. I tie some
with/without although it must be said you can always trim it off
later if need be. Whip finish in the same plane.
11.The
last step involves trimming the wings to shape. Use your own
discretion here and don't worry too much about getting them exactly
right. These insects sits on the surface with their wings all fouled
up and it is more the presentation and reasonably accurate size,
shape, profile that is most important.
12.
Grab the tips of all the legs and pull it upwards away from the fly
body. Trim them roughly evenly making them a little longer than the
hook shank (we want that wiggle). The legs will fall down and settle
in the X position. |