Flex Floss Mayfly
by Elaine Cook
Don't let this pattern scare you. It's a beauty, requiring few materials, easy to see, and trout love it. You just have to be a little creative with your equipment. You will need to rig a bar or similar device to suspend a stretchy material from about one foot avove the jaws on your vise. I use a metal bar that feeds through the hinges of my clamp-on lamp. You can also coerce a friend to assist you.
| Hook: | TMC 100, sizes 12-20 (since mayflies come in all sizes) I prefer sizes 14-16-18 |
| Thread: | Color to match body Use gray, olive and light yellow are most common |
| Tail: | Natural grizzly or color to match body Can be dyed grizzly |
| Body: | Color to match natural Most common are gray, olive and light yellow |
| Wings: | 1. Flex floss-color close to thorax color 2. Hackle (saddle-not neck) same as tail |
| Thorax: | Same or similar color as body, but darker Can be achieved by mixing a little olive, black or brown with body color |
1. Crimp barb.
2. Attach thread mid-shank.
3. * Select a dozen stiff hackle barbs, for size 16 hooks, less for smaller hooks. Line up tips and cut at base from stem.
* Lay on top of shank, tips extending hook length beyond shank.
* Wrap in place back to rear of shank.
* Make one wrap thread under tail to splay hackle barbs.
4. Dub a slender tapered body to 1/2 way up shank.
5. Tie in flex floss tip toward hook eye, then fold tip backward to tie down snugly.
6. * Prepare butt end of a hackle (remove fuzz, cut last few barbs short on sides of stem forming crew cut).
* Tie in butt end with at least 6 thread wraps, tip to rear with dull side toward you.
7. Dub thorax ball, diameter twice body thickness. Ball should leave enough space on shank to tie down hackle, flex floss and tie
small thread head. Wrap one half hitch.
8. * Tie loop in flex floss, suspend from above, stretch to 2-3 times original length.
* Wrap hackle around flex floss, 6 very close wraps up the down, adjust number of wraps according to size of hook-20 for size 12, 10 for size 18. Tie off, tie half hitch, cut excess.
* Release suspended flex floss, bring firmly toward over thorax, then bring under eye on your side, hold in place and tie off snugly with at least 6 thread wraps (hold at different angles and thread wraps in front and in back of floss). Tie off, cut excess.
9. Form small thread head by using half hitch tool which will also tie off fly. Cut thread. Apply drop of head cement. Cut off any hackle that goes below body (see diagram).