Bodkin / Patterns

Libby's Skwala

Dry Fly · Trout · Intermediate · 2 versions

Reference Recipe

  • Hook Long-shank nymph/dry (TMC 5263), 8-10
  • Thread Olive 6/0 (140 denier)

Materials

  • Spandex/Life-Flex Brown/olive spandex life flex (for tails, legs, antennae)
  • Dirty Bug Yarn Mottled olive dirty bug yarn (1 length (abdomen))
  • CDC feathers Olive dun (underwing) + brown olive (thorax) (6-8)
  • Elk hair Natural deer hair (1 narrow clump (wing))
  • Hare's-ear dubbing Olive brown ice dub (1 pinch (thorax))
  • Trigger Point fibers Chartreuse arctic fox (1 short tuft (indicator, optional))

How to tie it

  1. Start thread at mid-shank and bind two brown-olive spandex tails at the bend, splayed and about one hook-gap long.
  2. Tie in mottled-olive Dirty Bug Yarn and wrap a slim-to-medium tapering abdomen over the back half of the shank; skwalas are flatter and narrower than golden stones.
  3. Stack 6-8 olive-dun CDC feathers and tie in a low underwing reaching just past the bend.
  4. Tie a narrow clump of natural elk hair over the CDC as the overwing, tips to the tail, and trim the butts.
  5. Fold three pairs of brown-olive spandex legs across the thorax and figure-8 them in, angling forward and back.
  6. Add an optional chartreuse Trigger Point sighter, then dub a thorax of brown-olive CDC spun in a loop with a little olive hare's-ear.
  7. Sweep two brown-olive spandex antennae forward over the eye, build a small head, whip finish, and cement.

Other versions

1 more in the app: Fly Fish Food Tie.

Tying videos

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