Here is the meat of this tip. The beetle.
Beetle Recipe
We have a lot of very tiny black beetles that seem to end
up in the streams around here, and the trout just love them.
By tiny, I mean #26 hooks and smaller, and even when I
am lucky enough to stab a piece of 8X tippet through the
eye, and finally get the knot tied, I have not a clue where the
thing is on the water.
Now, I think you will agree, even a small dot of paint tends
to pretty much cover a size #26 beetle. It kind of defeats
the purpose, so try this.
Hook: Standard Dry Fly hook (size #18 thru #26).
Thread: Dark Green (size 8/0 or smaller).
Body: Closed-cell Foam (thicker than ant, with tapered end).
Brush Flag: Golden Antron (threaded onto a needle).
Legs: Black Antron (threaded onto a needle).
Method:
1.Tie in at the eye of the hook with fine thread, laying a thread base all
the way to just down the bend, of the hook.
- Then tie-in a proportionately shaped strip of black closed-cell foam
at that at the bend.
- Build up a few wraps of thread ahead of the foam, on the shaft of the
hook, almost to the eye of the hook.
- Thread a common sewing needle with an appropriately
sized strip of Gold Antron, and tie it in at the center of the hook
shaft, then pulling the foam body forward to the eye, stick the
needle thru the foam, from the bottom, at the point which will
be the center of the of the body, and directly above the tie-in point.
- Now, attach the Black Antron just ahead of the tie-in point of the Gold
Antron, in the spent wing step from the Ant Pattern.
- Wrap the thread forward to the eye, and pulling the foam
forward to form the body, secure at the eye of the hook. Tie off, and whip-finish.
- Clip the Antron Brush Flag (being sure to remove any
slack from under the foam), trim the legs to proper length,
and you are finished.
- You now have a very small beetle, with a flag that along with the ant
pattern, has been responsible for the furthering education of over two dozen
14 inch Brown Trout, a few Rainbow Trout, and one very wild and feisty 5 inch
Brook Trout, that snatched a #18 Ant Fly, literally off the nose of a hefty Brown.
Give them a try! Then you too, will not be a "Nearsighted Angler. "
Please check out the Fly Tying Section, on the
, on FAOL too.
If you have any questions, tips, or techniques; send them along.
Someone else thought up most of this material before we did,
they just forgot to tell anyone about it. Or else we just
forgot about it, while learning something else. Let us
share with each other, all the things we know!
~ Steven H.
McGarthwaite (Chat Room AKA Parnelli)
Originally published November 2, 1997 on Fly Anglers Online.