Quest for Stone

For Spring steelhead, stoneflies are among my favorites. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a pattern that I can tie in a reasonable amount of time. Most are too intricate, take too many steps, and require too many different materials.

So, for the past year or so, I've been playing with inventing my own. The early prototypes were based on a green Caddis nymph I've had some success with. So basically, the program has been:

1. Daiichi 1120 egg hook in #10 size
2. Wrap a thread base, using black thread
3. Tie in some medium black vinyl D-rib
4. Bring thread forward to about the 2/3 point
5. Wrap D-rib forward and tie off
6. Apply black dub to thread and tie forward to the eye
7. Apply two pairs of rubber legs, one on each side of the hook.
8. Whip or half-hitch finish

OK, so I've caught a fish or two on this one, but it just looks like a kludge. I think my basic idea's solid, I just need to start finessing the execution. The finished fly seems heavy handed. So, here's where I'm headed...

1. Swapped out the rubber legs for some MUCH thinner silicone silli legs. These seem far more proportional. Tied a few last weekend and it seemed to help.
2. While I love the strength and sharpness of the Daiichi 1120's for eggs, they just seem too short-shanked to deliver the right proportions. So yesterday when I had some time to kill between appointments, I picked up a 2x heavy, curved hook with a bit longer shank. This should enable a longer proportional balance.
3. Standard black dubing looks so, well, blah. Picked up some black ice dub that has a nice sheen and variability.

Hoping to find some time to tie later this week and try out these improvements. We'll see. But I was also talking to my buddy Jay recently and he evidently has a killer pattern that's super easy to tie. May get that recipe tomorrow night.

I think this "engineering" facet of fly tying is what appeals to me. Answering questions like, "How do I get that bulk up front and not thoughout", or "Does that look like something in the wild?" keep me entertained.

-Sean-