Bodkin / Patterns

Rolling Stone

Nymph · Trout · Intermediate · 1 version

Reference Recipe

  • Hook Heavy-wire curved scud hook (TMC 2457), 8
  • Thread Black 6/0 (Veevus)

Materials

  • Turkey biot quills (tail, antennae, legs) Black goose biots
  • Ultra Wire, large (body) Black wire
  • Ice Dub (dubbing balls) Golden brown ice dub
  • Thin Skin, mottled bustard (shell casings) Olive thin skin mottled

How to tie it

  1. Mount the scud hook (unweighted) and run the thread to the rear; build a small ball of thread at the rear to help splay the tails.
  2. Lay two long black turkey biots on top of the thread ball, take a couple of wraps, slide to length, then split them by pulling one each way (scissor-shaped) for a split tail.
  3. Wrap a smooth thread base forward to about three-quarters up and trim the biot butts.
  4. Lay a length of large black Ultra Wire down the near side of the shank (widening the platform) and wrap back over it to the tail, then just past the hook point; secure well. Wrap the wire forward in even segmenting turns to the mid-shank area, hold it up, take a couple of wraps over it, and helicopter it off; gently wrap back over the cut nub.
  5. Tie in a second pair of black biots as rear legs (concave sides away from the shank), the first pair reaching just past the bend; trim.
  6. Tie in a strip of Thin Skin (dull side up) on top for the first shell casing and leave it back. Make a thick dubbing ball of golden-brown Ice Dub, fold the Thin Skin forward over it to form a casing and take two wraps; fold it back.
  7. Add a pair of biot legs propped out by the dubbing ball, then another dubbing ball, then fold another Thin Skin casing forward; repeat this ball/casing/legs sequence about three times, each casing slightly larger, working forward.
  8. On the last (largest) dubbing ball, pull the final casing over, add forward-swept biots as antennae at the head, secure, whip finish and cement.

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