Lead-free wire, 0.015 in. Silver lead free wire (About 10 wraps)
Mottled hen or hen pheasant soft hackle fibers Mottled brown hen hackle (8-10 fibers for the tail)
Wire rib, brassie size Gold or copper fine wire (One 3 in. length)
Opossum dubbing blend Tan (opossum mixed roughly half-and-half with brown, red and ginger) (A thin noodle for the abdomen)
Rabbit or synthetic dubbing Brown dubbing (A pinch for the thorax)
Hen pheasant feather Mottled brown hen hackle (One V-notched slip for the legs)
How to tie it
Put about ten wraps of 0.015 lead-free wire over the middle of the shank, then start the brown thread, build a small thread dam behind the wire, take the thread forward over the wire and dam it in front, and return to the bend.
Tie in 8-10 fibers of mottled hen or hen pheasant as a tail about one hook gap long. Check that the bunch is still centered on top before locking it down, then trim the curly butts.
Tie in the gold or copper brassie wire and bind it down to the start of the tail.
Wax the thread well and dub a thin, tapered abdomen with the tan opossum blend, forward to about the 60% point. Opossum is slippery, so re-tighten the noodle every two turns.
Wind the wire rib forward in evenly spaced open turns, tie it off and break it off. Leave the guard hairs standing for a buggy look.
Dub a distinctly fuller brown thorax over the front third, stopping a couple of eye-widths short of the eye. If you crowd the eye, pull everything back and tighten the wraps to make room for the legs.
Cut a small slip from the same hen pheasant feather, cut a V-notch out of the center, and lay it over the top so fibers fall evenly on both sides. Take a medium-tight wrap, check the length, shorten if needed, then lock it in and trim the butts as close as you can get.
Take the thread straight back to the eye, then wrap a ramp back up to build the head. Trim any fibers standing over the top.