Bodkin / Patterns

Hexagenia Nymph

Nymph · Trout · Advanced · 2 versions

InTheRiffle dressing

  • Hook Kona BGT, 6

Materials

  • Tail/Legs Goose biots
  • Abdomen Black bead chain
  • Eyes Red Painted Lead Eyes
  • Collar Brown Whiting Brahma Hen

How to tie it

  1. Cut a six-bead length of black bead chain. With side cutters, crush the end bead on its seam and pull it off, and do the same at the other end, so a bare stem projects from both ends: one for the tail, one to attach to the hook.
  2. Grip the chain in an alligator clip held in the vise jaws with one bare stem out. Start the thread on that stem, pinch the clip jaws for support, take good wraps and whip finish.
  3. Bind a goose biot on each side of the stem with loose wraps, curving inward for a better profile, trimmed almost to the notch. Whip finish with a large whip finisher so it clears the materials.
  4. Take a small brown Whiting Brahma hen feather from the neck end of the cape, tie it in by the tip, cupped side to the right, and wrap concentric turns with gentle tension since the stem will not take much. Whip finish, snip, and add a half drop of super glue.
  5. Turn the chain around in the clip so the tail hangs inside the jaws and work up one bead at a time: start the thread, bind a goose biot on each side opposite the previous pair (the fly is tied in the round), tie in the next-larger Brahma hen feather by its tip, wrap it, whip finish and add a micro drop of super glue. Repeat to the last bead; the feathers grow larger up the cape and give the taper.
  6. Put the Kona BGT in the vise. Figure-8 the red painted lead eyes on top of the shank, leaving an extra eye length of bare shank behind the hook eye, then take wraps around the base of the bundle to tighten it and hit it with super glue.
  7. Lay the abdomen's free stem along the rear of the shank and bind it down with thread only, then glue.
  8. Bind a goose biot on each side at the front for legs, then tie in two large Brahma hen feathers together by their tips and wrap a full collar behind the eyes; capture the stems and trim.
  9. Tie in two of the largest Brahma hen feathers by the tips, wrap them behind the eyes, cross over through the eyes in a figure-8, and wrap the rest onto the front of the shank up to the eye; bind the stems.
  10. Preen the fibers back and build a head, whip finish. Push the fibers back between and under the eyes with a dab of thin UV resin and cure it; trim fibers underneath so the hook point stays clear.

Other versions

1 more in the app: L'ami du moucheur.

Tying videos

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