Bodkin / Patterns

Brent's Rub-a-Dub

Nymph · Trout · Intermediate · 1 version

Tyer Recipe

  • Hook 1X-short curved nymph hook, 12
  • Thread dark brown 6/0

Materials

  • Brass bead Copper, 7/64 brass bead (1)
  • Lead wire .015 (under bead) Natural lead wire (6-7 turns)
  • Glitter D-rib (body) Translucent glitter (1 length, stretched)
  • Rub-a-Dub dubbing (collar) Natural brown (many colors available) (touch-dubbed inch of thread)
  • Dubbing wax Clear dubbing wax (light coat on thread)

How to tie it

  1. Slide the 7/64 copper bead onto the size 12 short curved hook, take six or seven turns of.015 lead wire, and push them up inside the bead to lock it in place; secure with thread.
  2. Heat the tip of a length of glitter D-rib briefly with a lighter and stretch it out thin; trim off the very tip you handled.
  3. Tie the stretched, near-invisible end in on top of the shank at the bend.
  4. Wrap the D-rib forward so the body tapers. Thin at the rear, thickening toward the bead; tie off with a half hitch behind the bead.
  5. Apply dubbing wax to about an inch of thread and touch-dub the Rub-a-Dub onto it, the fur and tiny rubber legs stick where they touch, and it will not look pretty yet.
  6. Take two turns of the dubbed thread behind the bead, pulling the fur collar rearward as you wrap.
  7. Whip finish right behind the bead.
  8. Free any rubber legs trapped in the collar with a bodkin, then brush the collar back with a wire brush into a buggy taper that shows the body underneath.

Tying videos

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