Bodkin / Patterns

Llano Bug

Dry Fly · Largemouth Bass · Smallmouth Bass · Panfish · Advanced · 1 version

Reference Recipe

  • Hook Barbless medium-shank dry-fly hook (e.g. Risen 100 BL), 10-12
  • Thread Brown 140 denier (flat, e.g. Veevus)

Materials

  • Dry-fly dubbing (long-fibered, e.g. bullfrog) (underbody)
  • Sheet foam Brown (body) (~hook-gap-wide strip, tapered)
  • Sheet foam Bright/yellow (hot spot & sighter)
  • Round or silly rubber legs (4 (2 per side))
  • Deer hair (or elk hair) (pencil-thick bunch)
  • Super glue

How to tie it

  1. Start flat thread a short way down the shank. Make a thick noodle of long-fibered dry-fly dubbing and dub a raised platform, then hit it with super glue so the foam won't spin.
  2. Cut a body-foam strip roughly a hook-gap wide and taper one end. Tie the foam down over the platform so it reaches back to about the bend, binding down the larger bumps.
  3. Dub over the section to cover the thread wraps and foam.
  4. Add a dot of super glue, fold the foam forward and tie it down about two to three hook-eye lengths back from the eye, then again right behind the eye; smooth the section out.
  5. Cut two rubber legs and tie one on each side angled downward, then two more on the far side.
  6. Comb the underfur from a pencil-thick bunch of deer hair, stack the tips, and measure it to extend past the bend about a foam-body length; tie the tips down. Add a few looser wraps behind the tight ones to condense and reduce flare.
  7. Add a bit more dubbing over that area, pull the foam rearward and take loose wraps to hold it back and form a small head, then tighten and level the head.
  8. Adjust the legs, cut a triangle at the end of a thin bright-foam strip and tie it on top as a sighter, then pull all legs rearward and take a few wraps in front of the head behind the eye; whip finish on the shank.
  9. Trim the yellow sighter and the brown foam to points, trim the legs (front shorter than rear), and saturate the thread wraps with super glue for durability.

Tying videos

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