Tim Wade of North Fork Anglers in Cody, WY, developed this nymph for the (what else) North Fork Shoshone River. A great dry fly stream but when the cutts and cuttbows aren’t looking up, this is a real good bug; don’t know if it’s a stonefly nymph or general attractor, but it generally attracts fish in a river with stoneflies so maybe it’s both (or neither). Love the crazy wing case stubs. Not to be confused with Kelly Glissmeyer’s great South Fork Special http://www.flyanglersonline.com/fotw/2010/fotw20100208.php
hook - Dai Riki 135 #10
underbody/weight - lead free wire .025
thread - UTC 140 black
tail - goose biots natural grey
body - rabbit dubbing black
rib - Ultrawire med red
wing cases - biots black
wings(?)/legs(?) - goose biots natural grey
bead - silver 5/32
Part 1
mash barb, slide bead on shank
wrap lead-free on shank and jam inside bead (locks bead in place, adds a bit more weight and builds up thorax)
attach thread, smooth over lead-free, tie down wire, wrap back to hook bend; add a few more wraps at the back to create a little thread bump (helps splay tail)
pull 2 biots and even tips
tie in biots, abdomen length (actually looking back these may be a touch long) with wraps against thread bump and they should spread out
trim biots and smooth underbody with thread
apply some dubbing to thread
apply some dubbing to body; try to make it a little thicker further along
wrap wire forward, tie off, helicopter end and smooth over
Scott, by the patterns you select for your SBSs, I think you might give a grin of approval if you saw my boxes. Two of my first tying books were Jack Dennis’ Western Trout Fly Tying Manuals v1 & 2, and many of my favorite patterns have roots in the West. More than a few of the patterns (or their variants) you’ve chosen have been staples for me. I have also tied the North Fork Special in a lighter version but haven’t given it a good try. Another fly that works and that bridges the gap between the NFS and the Prince is the Dark Lord.
Forgot to mention the lighter version (tan body & biots, gold bead); thanks for the reminder. Also, there’s a great video at Dakota Anglers tied by Ryan Grabert http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgU1e94RS38 with a little different treatment of the legs/wingcases. Both of Jack Dennis’ books and Randall Kaufmann’s have been poked through quite a bit recently.
whatfly,
5/32" Silver bead (fixed that in the recipe). All photos freehand (usually give the coffee time to clear the system); need to look for one of those little tripods.
As for the tripod take a look for a G Clamp camera mount. Clamping to the table is much steadier than a table top tripod. Unfortunately my set up is way to heavy for one of those. Still the weight makes it easy to hand hold.
