Z-lon or Antron shuck Tan / gold yarn (Half a strand)
Tying thread rib Brown thread (A 3-4 inch loop of the tying thread)
Dry fly dubbing (Antron) Tan dubbing (Body and thorax)
Elk or deer hair Bleached / light elk hair (One medium tuft)
How to tie it
Start brown thread mid-shank and run it back toward the bend. Before you get there, pull three or four inches of thread out of the bobbin and form a loose loop. This is the rib, not a dubbing loop. Park the loop out of the way with a magnet.
Tie in half a strand of tan Z-lon at the bend as a trailing shuck, leaving it deliberately long. You can shorten it later; you cannot add to it.
Wax the thread, spin on tan dry fly dubbing and wrap a body forward to a little past the 60% point. Do not fret over a perfect taper. The rib tidies it up.
Twist the two strands of the parked thread loop together into a cord and wrap it forward over the body as a rib, four or five turns. Counter-wrapping adds durability; the intent is mainly segmentation. Tie off and trim.
Stack a medium tuft of bleached elk hair and measure it about body length, reaching to the back of the bend. Clearly shorter than the shuck. Cord the thread clockwise for a tight bite and tie the hair in at the front of the body with firm wraps, letting it flare in front but keeping the back from flaring. If it spins, lift the bunch and take a wrap up underneath it, then a couple of tight wraps forward to lock it on top.
Now the trick that makes this fly: instead of trimming all the butts, pull about six of them out to each side as legs and trim the rest off close.
Shorten those legs to a little under an inch for now. It makes the next step much easier.
Wax the thread again, spin on a little more of the same tan dubbing, take a wrap or two behind the legs, crinkle them back out of the wing's way, then wrap the thorax up through and between them. Pull them all back with the last of the dubbing on the thread and finish a small head.
Whip finish, then crinkle the legs with your fingers and trim them to length, being careful not to mangle the wing. Last of all trim the shuck to a little less than a body length.