Hook Stealth Hooks C series curved scud / sow bug hook, 8-14
Thread Red 8/0
Materials
Bead core 3X tippet (one length, tied in as an axle)
Beads Tungsten, pale pink beads (4 x 3/32 in and 2 x 1/8 in)
Body / rib Ostrich herl, tan (3 fibres)
Underbody Semperfli waxed thread, red (full shank)
Shellback coating Semperfli No Tack UV resin (1 heavy coat)
How to tie it
Mount a Stealth C10. Svend fishes this sow bug a size larger than usual, closer to a scud, because of the weight it has to carry.
Start red waxed thread and trim the tag out.
Tie in a length of 3X tippet and then use it as if it were the tag end, binding it down the shank with touching wraps all the way into the bend. Use 3X rather than 6X or 7X - it needs some stiffness to thread beads onto. Covering the shank in red also means a red hue shows through once the fly is wet, which is his trick on most of his sow bugs.
Come forward a little from the bend so the thread does not slip off, building slight bulk at the back.
Tie in three tan ostrich fibres by their butts at the rear and bind them back to where the tippet ends. Three fibres because the shank is long; on a smaller hook two will do.
Cover everything forward again with red thread, keeping it neat and evenly red, and finish at the eye.
Thread six tungsten beads onto the tippet: four 3/32 in, then two 1/8 in placed to build the hump in the middle. Run the first ones with the small hole facing rearwards, then flip the rest so the holes face forward. It looks better and more uniform.
Leave the tippet slightly loose rather than pulled tight, then wrap the thread back and forth through the gaps between the beads to lock them and stiffen the whole run. Double the tippet back on itself at the front, tie it off, that also builds the head, and snip.
Start the ostrich one wrap behind the eye and rib it back through the gaps between the beads, one wrap per gap. Through the middle, where more underbody shows, pull the fibres left on the first pass and right on the second for better coverage.
Use hackle pliers for the last of the fibre and go gently. You are gripping tips and they break. If one snaps, finger-wrap the survivors; the earlier snug wraps through the beads hold it all together.
Wrap over the fibre tips, over and under, then finish at an angle so the thread sweeps the eye and pulls stray fibres back. Whip finish, build a small head and cut.
Lay your scissor blades flat against the beads and snip off the fibres poking out between them. The beads are rounded so you will not dull the scissors, and it makes the resin step survivable.
Coat the bead back with Semperfli No Tack: start down the middle, lay a strip either side, and stop as soon as you reach the fibres. Resin in ostrich is a nightmare. Cover the butt end and the head too.
Set the fly upside down so the resin drains away from the fibres and gives a halo, then cure for 15 to 20 seconds rather than the usual five to ten, since there is a lot of resin on there.