Nymph · Trout · Grayling · Intermediate · 1 version
Lucian Vasies
Hook Caddis/grub hook, 12
Thread Yellow Sumo Power thread
Materials
Body Light olive dun material (Belgian rabbit dubbing)
Ribbing Gold middle (Tinsel)
Thorax Colour #01 material (Squirrel Dubbing Plus)
Hot spot Hot orange arctic fox (Thread)
Weight Black nickel material (3.5mm tungsten bead)
How to tie it
Slide the 3.5mm black nickel tungsten bead onto the caddis hook and seat it at the eye, then start yellow Sumo behind it. Black nickel is the choice when you want mass without the flash of a bright bead.
Wind to the bend, tie in the gold tinsel for the rib, and take the thread back forward.
Dub a full body of light olive dun Belgian rabbit from the bend to the 70% mark, tapering thicker toward the front. A free-living caddis larva is a fat, grub-shaped thing, so do not tie this one slim.
Rib with five or six open turns of gold tinsel. It segments the body and, more practically, stops rabbit fur being pulled out on the rocks this fly is designed to bump along.
Dub a short spiky thorax of Squirrel Dubbing Plus #01 behind the bead, natural fur mixed with synthetic gives sparkle and movement at once.
Finish with three or four turns of hot orange thread as a collar right behind the bead, whip finish, and pick the thorax out so the orange peeks through the guard hairs rather than sitting as a hard band.