Hook Fulling Mill 5045 Jig Force barbless jig hook, 14-18
Thread Black (a chartreuse, orange or red hot-spot thread also works) Danville 6/0
Materials
Bead Slotted tungsten (3mm on a 16; 2.4-3.5mm across the size range)
Rib UNI-Soft wire, small, chartreuse (one strand)
Body Hareline Hare'E Ice Dub, caddis green (one body-length noodle)
Herl Hareline ostrich herl, olive or scud tan (one herl)
Collar hackle CDC, brown, tan, black or natural dun (one feather's worth of fibres in a loop)
Collar Hareline Ice Dub, UV Black (a tiny noodle)
How to tie it
Mount a Fulling Mill 5045 Jig Force, a 16 here, with a 3mm slotted tungsten bead, and start black Danville 6/0 on the shank.
Tie in a length of small chartreuse wire halfway down the shank.
Dub a sparse noodle of caddis green Hare'E Ice Dub. Take only tiny pinches: Sean's standing advice in the shop is that new tyers use far too much, and you can always add more later.
Tie in one ostrich herl at the rear of the hook, binding down the wire at the same time. He overlaps these steps for speed. You can bind the wire back with bare thread first if you prefer.
Wrap the dubbed body forward from the rear.
Wrap the ostrich herl forward in evenly spaced turns about two millimetres apart, wrapping towards yourself, and tie it off behind the bead. The standing herl fibres give the buggy, gassy, translucent look he is after. The same idea as a Gary LaFontaine sparkle pupa.
Rib forward with the chartreuse wire in evenly spaced turns, wrapping away from you. Wrap the wire in the same direction as your thread torque. Matching the two makes a noticeably stronger, more durable finish than opposing them.
Clamp a section of CDC in a material clip, the butt halves saved from dry fly production are ideal, and trim the fibres from one side of the stem close.
Load the fibres into a loop, evening the butts so they do not protrude too far out the other side, and seat the bunch as close to the shank as you can get away with. Spin the loop up.
Preen the CDC fibres to one side and wrap the loop as a soft-hackle collar. The standing ostrich fibres prop the veil off the body, so water pressure cannot suck it flat and an air pocket is trapped between the veil and the body. That is the whole point of the fly.
Preen the fibres rearwards, make sure none are trapped under the hook, and pinch them off about a third of a shank length behind the body. You can leave them full length if you prefer.
Dub a tiny noodle of UV Black Ice Dub for the front collar, a little subtle flash, and it brushes out into a leggy effect.
Whip finish. A touch of brush-on Zap-A-Gap on the thread beforehand is Sean's normal finish.