If you follow our blog regularly its very obvious that owner Josh Phillips and owner Pete Rosanue have a little different style of tying flies! Both individuals tie flies for the utility of catching fish after fish but the intricacy of Pete's flies far surpasses anything that Josh comes up with! If you have some time on your hands this weekend take a stab at this killer bug tied up by Pete! You wont be disappointed!
Struggling Stone materials list:
Step 1: Insert hook into the vise. For this fly I like the hook point down to accentuate the curve of the tail which adds a bit of reality.
Step 2: Begin your thread and wrap a thread base to a point slightly down the bend. Add 5-7 wraps of subtle figure 8 wraps to build a small thread bump. This bump will keep our biots separated when we tie in the tail.
Step 3: Tie in two biots for the tails. As you wrap back to the thread bump keep some pressure on the biots with your off hand fingers to hold them at an angle away from the shank. When you tie back to the thread bump it will make the job of keeping the biots in place much easier.
Step 4: Tie in a 5-6 inch piece of clear vinyl rib. The bottom of the “V” should be touching the hook shank. The flat side should be looking upward. As you begin to wrap this will ensure the rounded side of the vinyl rib faces outward. Begin tying in the vinyl rib roughly 2 hook eye lengths behind the eye. We want the underbody to remain uniform in size.
Step 5: Next we will tie in the Lady Amherst fibers as the top of our tail/body. We will tie the fibers in with the good side, or top of the fibers facing the hook shank. Where the dark section is will be where the fibers line up with our previous tie in.
Step 6: Amherst fibers tied in and ends trimmed and wrapped down.
Step 7: Tie in a strand of gold Lateral Scale all the way back to the last 2 tie-ins. Advance your thread to behind the hook eye and prepare to bring your body to life.
Step 8: Using slightly overlapping wraps bring the Lateral Scale forward to behind the hook eye. Capture the Lateral Scale with 2-3 good thread wraps. While maintaining tension on your thread, bring the Lateral Scale back over itself toward the hook point. Tie off with 2-3 thread wraps and trim the excess Lateral Scale. This method of tying off will prevent the Lateral Scale from slipping and unraveling.
Step 9: Using slightly overlapping wraps bring the Lateral Scale forward to behind the hook eye. Capture the Lateral Scale with 2-3 good thread wraps. While maintaining tension on your thread, bring the Lateral Scale back over itself toward the hook point. Tie off with 2-3 thread wraps and trim the excess Lateral Scale. This method of tying off will prevent the Lateral Scale from slipping and unraveling.
Step 10: Wrap the vinly rib in touchin wraps all the way to the hook eye and tie off with 5 strong thread wraps. Trim away the excess Amherst fibers and vinyl rib and form a neat thread head. Whip finish twice and cement with Loon Hard Head or cement of your choice.
Step 11: To really let the pattern and color of the Amherst to show through I like to apply a very thin layer of Loon thin clear fly finish. Make sure it gets between the wraps of vinyl rib and then cure with the Loon UV torch.
Step 12: Slip your Spawn 60* micro jig shank through the hook eye of your stonefly body and insert in the vise. Tie down the open end and cement.
Step 13: Make a dubbing noodle at the rear of the shank and wrap the dubbing in a tightly packed space. We will be brushing this out, so use some pressure when wrapping the dubbing. This is roughly 4 inches of dubbing noodle.
Step 14: Use a dubbing brush or Velcro type substance to tease out the dubbing. Brush it back toward the tail section all the way around the jig shank.
Step 15: Tie in a medium amount of deer hair similar to an elk hair caddis, but letting the hair cover the top and sides of the hook. The hair should reach back to roughly half way back on the body section. Keep in mind the body will be hanging beneath the thorax, so we don’t want the hair to be long enough to emulate hatching wings.
Step 16: After tying in the deer hair back to our dubbing, trim the excess hairs and cover with thread wraps.
Step 17: Trim 2 pieces of foam to roughly a heart shape. We will be tying two wing pads in this manner. The last wing pad will be formed differently. The foam should be about as wide as the hook gap on the trailing hook. The taper of the foam will allow us enough material for a strong tie in with the least amount of excess. We are working in a tight space, so keep an eye on your proportions and spacing.
Step 18: Tie in your fist foam wing pad so the ends reach 2/3 of the way back on the deer hair. As you really put the pressure on the thread wraps you’ll notice the deer hair moving toward the sides of the hook which is perfect for this application. Trim off any excess foam and cover with thread wraps.
Step 19: Repeat the same dubbing step as before. Make sure the dubbing climbs up the foam wing pad and covers to the previous dubbing.
Step 20: Brush out the Simi Seal and coax back with your fingers.
Step 21: Repeat the deer hair. The hairs should barely reach the ends of the foam wing pad.
Step 22: After trimming the deer hair butts and wrapping down, tie in the second wing pad. Again this wing pad should go back 2/3 of the deer hair you just tied in. Trim the excess foam and cover with thread wraps.
Step 23: Now tie in another strip of foam that goes toward the eye of the shank. Once pulled back, this strip will form our third wing pad and head. This strip should be the same width as the last two wing pads or just slightly slimmer. Cutting the tie in to a point will make it easier to tie in your foam.
Step 24: Tie in a set of large mono eyes using figure of 8 wraps followed by thread wraps in front and behind the eyes. You can apply a small amount of cement or Hard Head as you’re tying in the eyes to help them stay where you want them.
Step 25: At the base of your last foam wing wrap your another small bundle of Simi Seal and brush out.
Step 26: Tie in the final section of deer hair. Trim the ends and cover with thread wraps.
Step 27: Add more Simi Seal to your thread in another 4-5 inch noodle. Use figure 8 wraps to really cover the eyes and fill out the head. Finish with your thread behind the eyes. Pull over the foam strip and securely tie it down with 8-10 thread wraps.
Step 28: Whip finish your thread twice and trim away. Add Hard Head or cement to the thread wraps and then trim the final wing pad to match the rest.
Finished fly!
