Caught a few with this during a hatch, but it’s worked better for me as a spent caddis or general attractor pattern. Added the rib because there’s not much that a little Rootbeer KF can’t improve. Tied here in hydropsyche colors; change to suit your needs. There’s a video of Kelly tying this over on The Weekly Fly but I was never crazy about the camera angles; your choice.
hook - Dai Riki 320 #16
thread - UTC 70 tan
shuck/underwing - Congo Hair gold
rib - Krystal Flash rootbeer
abdomen - dubbing tan
wing/head - caribou hair
Part 1
mash down barb, attach thread at 75% mark
tie in some Congo Hair
tie in KF; wrap back to bend
dub thread, dub body up to 75% mark
rib body and tie off; trim shuck (gap length)
fold underwing back and tie down; trim (hook bend)
clean, stack and measure a clump of caribou; tips should extend to bend
2 soft loops, slowly pull tight without letting go of the tips; wrap forward to eye, then back 1 hook eye width (my apologies for the messy fingers; tied this up between coats of semi-gloss on the baseboards)
gather butt ends and pull up and back over hook; tie down, half hitch x 2, SHHAN
Back in the early '50’s we had a jar of butch wax to get our hair trained to grow vertical for a proper flattop haircut. I worn a flattop any Marine would have been proud of until my sophomore year in college when this brown eyed girl convinced me to grown my hair out. In retrospect, butch wax would have probably been pretty good for dubbing wax, I’ll bet some one tried it.
