Sierra Bug
By Elaine Cook
Sierra Bug
By Elaine Cook
This dry fly is effective on lakes as well as streams of the California Sierras. The pattern doesn't look like any particular insect to us, but the trout seem to think it's just what they're looking for. Best of all, it's easy to tie. Tie it with upright wings in the appropriate sizes for mayflies, midges or ants (though Rene Harrop's effective mayfly patterns and many midge patterns have down or Trude-style wings) and with down wings for caddis and beetles, including ladybugs.
| Hook: | Standard dry fly such as Tiemco TMC-100 |
| smallest sizes for midges | |
| all sizes for mayflies and caddis | |
| larger sizes for ants and beetles | |
| Thread: | black 8/0 |
| Body: | black Antron |
| Hackle: | black dry fly hackle, barb length one hook gap |
| Wing: | white or orange bucktail: |
| white for lakes | |
| orange for streams to distinguish it from foam on the water | |
| orange for ladybugs |
For Upright-Winged Fly:
1. Crimp barb.
2. Attach thread mid-shank.
3. Cut a clump of bucktail at the base, next to the hide, and remove under-hairs. Stack the clump to even the tips. Halfway between tips and base, the clump should be the thickness of a wooden match for a size 14 hook.
4. Lay the hair on top of the hook shank with the tips extending over the eye. The tips should extend one shank length from the mid-shank tie-in point. Take one loose wrap of thread around the hair only, then bind the hair to the shank with several firm wraps. Keep the clump on top of the shank with your free hand while you bind it down. Pull the tips upright and take several wraps around the shank only, tight against the front of the clump, then take several wraps around the base, to make the tips stay upright. [This is called posting the hair.] Cut butts at an angle toward the rear. Bind the cut butts down with thread.
5. Take the thread to the rear of the shank.
6. Select a hackle with barb length one hook gape. Cut off the thick and fuzzy part of the hackle stem. Tie the base of the hackle in, dull side toward you, tip extending to the rear.
7. Tie the body material strand in at the hackle tie-in point. Don't make it too thick.
8. Bring the thread forward to one eye length behind the eye.
9. Wrap the Antron forward, covering the shank and wing tie-in wraps to the hanging thread, tie off and cut excess.
10. Palmer the hackle [wrap it forward over the length of the shank in even turns] to the body material tie-off. Tie off the hackle and cut excess.
11. Wrap a small thread head, whip finish and cut thread.
For Down-Winged (Trude) Fly:
Do steps #1, #2, #5, #6 and #7 as above (omit steps #3 and #4, tying in the wing).
8. Bring thread forward to two eye lengths behind the eye.
9. Wrap the Antron forward to the hanging thread, making a fairly thick body. Tie off and cut excess.
10. Palmer the hackle to the body material tie-off point, tie hackle off and cut excess.
11. Prepare bucktail for the wing as in step #3 above.
12. Lay the bucktail clump atop the shank with the tips extending to the rear of the hook (even with the hook bend). Take one loose wrap of thread around the hair only, then bind the hair to the shank with several firm wraps. Keep the clump on top of the shank with your free hand while you bind it down.
13. Cut the hair short in front of the thread and bind down with close turns of thread, forming the head.
14. Whip finish and cut excess.
Tying Tip:
Don't discard the short excess hackle ends you cut off after wrapping them. Tips may be used for hackle point wings. Butts (with the thick end and fuzz cut off) as well as tips may be used to clear the eye of excess head cement or glue before it sets. Just poke the butt through the eye and pull the feather through. Be quick if you're using SuperGlue or Zap-a-Gap so you don't glue the feather halfway through the eye.