Bodkin / Patterns

RIO's Top Shelf

Nymph · Trout · Advanced · 1 version

Reference Recipe

  • Hook Firehole Outdoors 718 (standard hopper/dry hook), 10-12
  • Thread Tan UTC 140

Materials

  • Craft foam (~2mm) Dark tan craft foam (top layer strip)
  • Craft foam (~2mm) Light tan craft foam (bottom layer strip)
  • Hare's Ear Ice Dub blend (sparse)
  • Krystal Flash (midge) (4-5 strands)
  • Poly macramé / macro poly yarn wing (Dorsey indicator yarn)
  • Hackle Brown hackle (1 feather)
  • Medium barred centipede legs Yellow round rubber
  • Superfine dry-fly dubbing Rusty/rosy brown

How to tie it

  1. Start the thread a little in front of the hook point and lay a base back to just above the hook bend.
  2. Cut two strips of ~2mm craft foam the width of the hook gap. Knock the corners off. Tie the top-color strip (dark tan) in first at the bend, then stack and tie in the light-tan strip beneath it, so you have a double-foam butt anchored at the rear of the shank.
  3. Dub a sparse Hare's Ear Ice Dub body: pinch on a little dubbing, give it a loose twist, and take a couple of loose-then-tight wraps forward, keeping it thin and buggy (not a fat dubbed body) and stopping short of the eye.
  4. Tie in 4-5 strands of midge Krystal Flash: wrap the thread up to the front, fold the flash back over itself, and secure it, then leave it long for now.
  5. Prepare a strand of macro poly yarn, comb it out, and tie it in as the wing right behind the foam; take a couple of wraps and fold the far side back over to seat it. Leave the wing long so it stays out of your way.
  6. Tie in a brown hackle by the butt right behind the wing, sized to roughly match the hook gap, and trim the excess stem.
  7. Tie in medium barred yellow centipede legs (one leg split in half), one length low on each side of the shank about halfway up the body, adjusting them so they sit even.
  8. Dub a short rusty/rosy-brown Superfine thorax over the leg tie-in area.
  9. Wrap the brown hackle forward with a couple of turns behind the legs, a turn between them, and a turn or two in front, catching the wing; tie off and snip the excess.
  10. Move the thread in front of the hackle, whip finish, and trim the head/foam corners to shape.
  11. Set the poly wing back over the body, pinch the front legs forward of the head and the rear legs back by the body, and adjust to finish.

Tying videos

← All fly patterns