Johnscott's FOTW

Well John, You did it again. Nice fly. Are they affective in SE Idaho in July? My wife and I are planning a trip to Mt Rushmore then Wyoming and Idaho. We should be in Idaho Falls area by July 15. I hope to fish some of your old stomping grounds, meet the Glissmeyers and shop at Jimmy’s. I have been tying up some flys to use and hope to do as well as the reports out of that area sound.
Not sure of the floss legs so am using sili legs in a few patterns. I will try the bugs in the Owens River first to see if they work out here. Thanks for all your support and fishing posts. Jim

Jim, I’m looking forward to meeting you and your wife as well! There are a whole mess of places to fish in July and the rubber legs aka:“Big Ugly” works well on most of them. I have found that chenille with a bit of flash mixed in works wonders on the SF and HF of the Snake. I also tie them in a Rust Orange color which has also been very productive. Great FOTW John, Its one of my favorites!

Mike

Hey John,
Nice fly. I’m in the handicapped for talent in tying department so I will NOT be able to replicate your creation. However, if you are inclined to help us/we who are SO handicapped, by sharing some of your flys- flies, i would be happy to provide my address and I assure you ALL resulting hook-ups would be credited to YOU :slight_smile:

Mark

It seems the Girdle Bug has been usurped and is lost to history - and the RUBBER LEGS STONEFLY NYMPH has no parents or lineage. So sad.

[u]http://flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/081400fotw.php[/u]
http://www.danica.com/flytier/asimon/girdle_bug.htm
http://www.flytying.ca/images/wet%20fly/girdle%20bug%20wet%20fly.jpg
http://www.bigyflyco.com/items/nymphs/GirdleBug-detail.htm

how true. i always thought they were girdle bugs!

so tell me…if one ties all 3 strands of rubber leg onto the hook at the same point, say the front third of the hook, separates the rubber legs, then wraps the chenille up to then between each strand can it be called the xgb and claimed to be a “new” tie?? answer: no, just a modification of the original with credit to the original fly.

Wes, that is actually the way I have started tying them. It saves on time and the end result is very close to the same. I only tie them with two strands, as well as the tails and antennae. I tie in one long piece, loop it back, tie it in, cut to size, and then wrap the chenille between them.

Mike

This is a highly effective pattern, in various sizes and colors, for any trout stream or river in the Intermountain West that has a population of stoneflies.

Hopefully, others who haven’t seen this pattern before, regardless what it is called or that it has no parents or lineage, or who have seen it but haven’t settled on a tying sequence, will get something out of the write-up.

John

P.S. You can’t do much better fishing SE Idaho than joining up with the Glissmeyers.

That pattern works like a hot damn here in SWAB… just ask the Browns, Rainbows, Bulls and Cutts with sore lips.

Yes, it’s a great fly and my anchor fly whenever and wherever I nymph fish, but, do you know the secret color combination? Really no secret, but it sure seems to get the fish - just about anywhere, anytime.

Here’s the Kid’s favorite color:

…and here’s mine:

Here’s a better look at my favorite:

I like a little flash so I get it with the chenille that I use.

Kelly.

For whatever reason, maybe because I am being overly sensitive, your comments have something of a “sting” to them. Since I’ve not had a reply to the PM I sent you indicating that I don’t know what to make of your post, I’ll just go ahead and reply here.

In all due respect, a search of “girdle bug” on bing ( the first twenty items ) does not readily bring up a history for that particular fly. There are general comments about the fly being an old western pattern, but nothing about where the fly actually originated and who was the originator. If the fly has been lost to history, maybe it is because it has no parents and lineage ??

In his book “Trout Country Flies” ( follow link below ), my friend and one of my fly fishing and tying mentors, Bruce Staples does not deem a “girdle bug” worthy of inclusion in his several pages of stonefly nymph patterns. He does however, show a “Golden Rubberlegs” which is virtually identical to the FOTW which is the subject of this thread. Bruce identifies the originator of the Golden Rubberlegs as Arrick Swanson, having created the fly during the '80’s out of West Yellowstone for fishing the Madison River. Bruce gives a recipe which is almost identical to the one I used in the FOTW except for color of the chenile and the material used for the rubber legs. He gives no tying instructions, but he does expand on the history of the fly as tied by Swanson. Bruce would probably appreciate your buying his book so you can read for yourself what he has to say about all that.

I probably have heard of the girdle bug before and have probably looked it up a time or two. However, my first awareness of a “rubber legs” was during a discussion with a local guide on the Henry’s Fork before I even started fly fishing in April '03, and my real acquaintance with the fly presented in the FOTW feature is based on flies I first saw at Jimmy’s All Season’s Angler in Idaho Falls, where Bruce works part time and where I spent countless hours with him talking flies and fishing in SE Idaho. Since they call this fly a “rubber legs” at Jimmy’s, and that reference has been appropriately documented by one of the most respected fly tier’s in the Idaho Falls area, who happens to be a Buz Buszek Memorial Award winner for fly-tying excellence and the author of several other books besides “Trout Country Flies”, I think it is safe to say the title I gave to my submission is most appropriate.

http://www.amatobooks.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=AmatobooksCom&Product_Code=1571882472&Category_Code=

Now you can rest easy and put your sadness to better use than lamenting a fly that has not been usurped nor forgotten and knocking a reference to a similar fly created by a known person at a known place at a known time.

Having said that, the links you posted, for those who bother to read them, present some different ideas about and uses for the “girdle bug” and “rubberlegs” flies. Thank you for that.

John

Please see my reply to Greg above. It will advance your base of knowledge and information.

You are welcome.

John

again all i said was “i always thought they were girdle bugs!” i didnt even disagree!! when i learned how to tie the pattern in the early '80s in colorado, thats what it was called. plain and simple.

i also did a GOOGLE search and found a couple of articles on the “girdle bug”. it appeaers the fly was originated a long time ago. Maybe even longer than the 80s you identify in your post above. Maybe the “golden rubberlegs” is a variation of an older pattern.

from the links below

“Back in the 1930s and '40s, it was called the “McGinnis rubberlegs,” after its creator, Frank McGinnis of Anaconda.”

theres more in the links below. when it changed name to “girdle bug” is something i cant answer. i heard the “rubber legs” came from a womans girdle. who knows? they sure werent selling rubber legs bak then like they do now!

http://littleriveroutfitters.com/littleriverjournal/feb2010/syates/index.htm

http://missoulian.com/lifestyles/recreation/article_c4a75463-69c7-5793-9ab6-a1318d2a5791.html

(contact the authors of the articles if you disagree, not me. i have nothing to do with what they wrote)

so maybe we learned something. they were once called “rubberlegs” then “girdle bugs” and now back to “rubber legs”.

again “i always thought they were girdle bugs!”

The Girdle bug as I have seen it, was a black chenille abdomen, with a brown chenille thorax (looked like a wooly worm catapillar) with a set of white rubber legs at the chenille junction (abdomen/thorax), and one behind the head.

It wasn’t tied with nearly as many legs, synthetic legs, or variagated chenille. I believe it was primarilly a western pattern as well and heavilly weighted.

That being said, I bet there are as many variations of that same basic pattern by different names coast-to-coast…as with the rubber legs:^)

To Greg’s comment “It seems the Girdle Bug has been usurped and is lost to history - and the RUBBER LEGS STONEFLY NYMPH has no parents or lineage. So sad.” you said “how true …”, suggesting that you share some feeling of sadness over the Girdle Bug being usurped and lost to history (which it hasn’t been ) or the fact that the rubber legs stonefly nymph has no parents or lineage ( which it does ).

I certainly don’t mean to get into some kind of a contest with you. I think your post makes an excellent point. If Greg appreciated that point he wouldn’t have felt needlessly sad nor started something not fully prepared for a discussion he could have reasonably anticipated. At a bare minimum, I doubt that he would have jumped on Jim’s note of appreciation to express some dissatisfaction with the name I used that he just happened to be unaware of. I guess the point there, if there is one, is that you ought to be on solid ground before you start swinging ??

I would enjoy reviewing the links you provided, but my computer is a bit sluggish lately and accessing links sometimes takes an inordinate amount of patience, so I’ll have to try again later. Thanks for hunting them down and posting them.

John

Please forgive a newbie fer askin… what the hell is an FOTW?

Sounds interesting, looks like it works, as advertized, etc.

Some of are new to all of this and the alphabet soup that ya’ll use sometimes,
well, kinda like bein’ in a store an folks start talkin in a different language…
Thanks for understanding.
hankaye

what the hell is an FOTW?

Fly Of The Week

FOTW=Fly Of The Week. Each week our esteemed editors put up a fly pattern, usually submitted from the rank and file of members of the board who have the necessary skills with feathers and fur, and also with the macro settings on their cameras. A bit of knowlege about how to post pictures and fly recipes also helps a lot. You’re invited to jump into the fray if you’re so inclined. If you need to know anything further, just ask, and you’ll be sure to get what you need. Sorry about the acronyms. You’re right about our need to be sensitive to the newbies need to catch up.

Thanks fellers and any ladies watchin’.

Feel like I got caught in a Homer Simpson moment… Headslap…Dooooooo

Dear John,

Since I’ve not had a reply to the PM I sent you indicating that I don’t know what to make of your post, I’ll just go ahead and reply here.
I did not respond to your PM because when I saw the replies from Norman and Wes, I presumed it was clear that ‘we’ have an understanding that most flies are variations, we like some history attached to a pattern and a recognition of the mentors (actual or perceived) that introduced the previous idea of the fly. To add my reply seemed like it would be ‘piling on’.

If the fly has been lost to history, maybe it is because it has no parents and lineage ??
Why didn’t you reference for your own lineage Mr. Staples or Mr. Swanson who you now list?
In his book “Trout Country Flies” …my friend and one of my fly fishing and tying mentors, Bruce Staples … Arrick Swanson

As to who does include a Rubber Legs or does not include a Girdle Bug in a book - this is a red herring; I don’t find either in Swisher/Richards, A.J. Maclane or John Gierach regardless of how skilled or famous they are. I do find the Girdle Bug in American Fly Tying Manual, Dave Hughes, 1986 and Flies for Trout, Stewart and Allen, 1993.

Having said that, the links you posted, for those who bother to read them
Bold is mine - Now you have me laughing.

Now you can rest easy and put your sadness to better use…
Sometimes I will still be sad, and here is the reason: There are two factors at work in recent years, which in my opinion have weakened our fly tying heritage (although in many cases they also strengthen it). They are the proliferation of new synthetic materials and the impact of the Internet - both as a source of information and as a means to publish without much review. So ‘Girdle Bug’ did not come up easily on Google, thus its reference value is weak. Wiggly legs can be made of so many new materials; there are even several kinds of dental floss we might try (for small flies – we could call them Dental Bugs or maybe Dental Gnats), not to mention all the craft shops’ chenille and ‘wool’ varieties. A digital camera and a link to a website and a ‘new’ fly is born and a tier becomes more well known (nothing personal intended here, it happens a lot). And like any publication or speech, if repeated often enough it becomes the new history. (Remember that the Electric Leech used to be a WB with a stripe!) So I am sorry that the old connections become thinner and more fragile, and when the wheel is re-invented not many look around to check for the old wheel and its inventor, or even if there was one.
Regards, Greg