"Fuzzy" Biot Body Alternative for Tiny Flies

All about flies Fly Tying
1

Some of you may not have the problems I have trying to wrap a biot body on an extremely small fly, and a lot of you may do this already, but what I have started to do to alleviate my lack of talent is to tie in a single pheasant tail fiber of the appropriate color, wrap a thread body, dab it with small amount of super glue, and then rib it with the pheasant tail fiber while the glue is still wet. The result is a body that looks just like a biot body with the fuzzy ribbing but without the bulky tying off point that I have with the biot. It is as strong as the biot, if not stronger, and I have a lot less headaches. I don’t have the capabilities to show a picture of it or I would. Sorry.

Joe

2

A great technique that I had never tried! Thanks for sharing Joe.

Ralph

3

I tie most of mine with the quill on the opposite side from the biots.

Rick

4

For very small flies, I do this as well.

5

Walter Wiese of Park’s Fly Shop put out a video of doing the same thing, but using a single fiber of turkey round.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5shXe-303lE

6

Worked pretty good Joe. Thanks for the tip.

7

Looks great!

What is a turkey round? In the video, he said that it’s from a different part of turkey than biots.

Thanks for any help

8

Secondary turkey wing feathers. Look online for “Turkey rounds”

9

Don’t get turkey rounds anyplace except Feather Craft to be sure of getting what you are looking for - different people call them different things, but those people practically invented them.

10

Thanks Byron, looks like turkey rounds are widely available at craft stores.

11

thanks herefishy, I’ll check out Feather Craft.

12

Joe, I colored a few pheasant fibers with a Black Sharpie. Made my little size 20 SH Emergers look pretty good.

13

DUB,
It’s a lot easier than battling a biot on those little flies, isn’t it?

Joe

14

I must be missing something - using a turkey round for the body is different, isn’t it, from taking a fiber and using it as kind of a rib over a thread body to look the way a biot does?

15

The Biot emerger has been a killer pattern for me this Spring. I hope your Pheasant Fiber variant works as well. I bet it will.

I have been using Super Glue on the biot patterns for a few years now.

Thanks Joe

Roys Biot Emerger (variation) size 20
[](http://s44.photobucket.com/user/dubbn62/media/Trout Flies/016_zpshfarjo6s.jpg.html)

Pheasant Fiber size 20
[](http://s44.photobucket.com/user/dubbn62/media/Trout Flies/003_zpsrcve7xn2.jpg.html)

16

Different, but, I thought, a similar procedure well demonstrated

17

Joe - Do you wrap it in touching turns like in Dub’s photo?

or more open, like a rib showing the thread body.

BTW - this is a great technique, and much quicker than biots. Thanks

18

Bruce,
I wrap it in open turns like a rib showing the thread body. By sometimes using a lighter colored thread with a darker pheasant fiber, you get the same segmented look as the darker fuzzy edge of the biot.

Joe

19

Thanks for the link, Byron. I like that style for small flies quite a bit and learned about a new feather to use for bodies.

Turkey rounds are now my favorite new material. They are inexpensive, come in a wide variety of colors and look great on tiny flies.