Psycho Prince Nymph

Materials needed:
Hook:  2x long nymph hook, size #12-18.  I'm using a size #16 TMC 3761.
Thread:  Black UNI-Thread 8/0
Bead:  Copper or gold sized to match your hook.
Tail:  2 brown goose biots.
Body:  Purple UV Ice Dub.
Rib:  Copper wire.  I'm using Amber colored wire.
Wing bud:  Z-lon or Antron yarn
Legs:  2 white goose biots.
Head:  Black UV Ice Dub.

Put your bead on your hook, and secure your hook in the vise.

You can optionally add 8 or so wraps of lead wire.

Start your thread just behind the lead wire.

Wrap your thread back to the tie in point for your tail.  Wrap 3-4 wraps of thread right here on top of each other to build up a little bump.

Building up a little bump helps to keep the goose biots seperated.

Select 2 brown goose biots, and place them back to back.

You want the length of your tail to be a little shorter than  the length of the hook shank.

Measure your tail, and then pinch the 2 goose biots together with the hook shank in-between them.

Tie the biots down just in front of the thread bump with 3-4 tight wraps.

Continue wrapping your thread forward to the lead wraps, securing the goose biot butt ends to the hook shank as you go.

Trim the biot butts just bihind the lead wraps.

Wrap your thread across the lead wire wraps to lock them in place.

Tie in your wire rib and wrap your thread back to the base of the tail.

Twist a small amount of dubbing onto your thread, and wrap forward keeping the back small, and building a slight taper as you move forward.

Keep adding dubbing and wrapping forward until you have a nice tapered body that ends about a beads length from the bead.

Wrap your rib forward with open spirals and tie it off behind the bead.

Break or trim the butt end of wire off.

Put two white goose biots back to back and tie them in behind the bead.  The length should be just short of the hook shank.

Trim the butt ends of the goose biots.

Tie in some z-lon, the length of the hook shank. 

 Trim the butt ends of the Z-lon.

Twist a small amount of Black Ice Dub onto your thread.

Wrap your dubbed thread forward building a tiny head just behind the bead.

Whip finish, and apply head cement.

Popcorn Beetle

I tie this pattern specifically for Pyramid Lake in northern Nevada.  I have not tried this pattern anywhere else, but one thing is for sure the Lahontan cutthroat in Pyramid love them.  I fish the white ones on bright, clear water days, and I fish a black foam, purple body variation on cloudy water days.

I landed 2 fish this size, and 12 or so more "smaller" ones last Saturday with this exact beetle.

Materials Needed:
Hook: TMC 2499SP-BL size #8
Thread:  White. I use Uni-Nylon, or any other thread thats easy to split.
Tail:  White marabou
Shell back:  White, 3mm closed cell foam.
Body:  Chartruese Ice Dub in a dubbing loop.

Start by laying a thread base down on your hook.  Wrap towards the hook gap the the point where you want to tie in your tail.

Measure your tail.  It should equal about the length of the hook shank.

Tie in your tail, and secure the tag ends of your marabou to the hook shank to the eye of the hook.

Cut a piece of 3mm white foam to be about the width of your hook gap.  Tie it in just in front of the tail.

Split your thread to create a dubbing loop.

Fill your dubbing loop with Chartreuse Ice Dub.

Spin your bobbin to trap all of the dubbing fibers in place.

Wrap the dubbing loop forward to build a body.

Using a dubbing brush, or a piece of velcro, comb down all of the dubbing fibers to the bottom of the beetle as shown.

Pull the foam over the top of the body, and secure it with several fairly tight wraps of thread.  Then wrap 3-4 tight wraps around just the hook shank, just behind the eye.

Whip finish, trim your thread and any extra foam you have tied into the front of the beetle.  Leave just a little bit of foam on the front of the fly.

Use your fingers to pinch any long fibers of dubbing and pull them off until the dubbing fibers reach the hook point as shown.

Guides choice hares ear

Materials Needed:
Hook  TMC 3761 sizes #12-18. I'm using a size #16.
Thread  Orange 8/0 Uni thread.
Bead  Tungsten bead sized to your hook.  I'm using a 2mm bead.
Tail  Hares mask fibers.
Rib  Gold wire or tinsel.
Body  Underfur mixed with longer guard hair from a hares mask.
Thorax  2 strands of peacock herl.
Flashback  Pearl tinsel or other flashback material
Hackle  Hungarian partridge, sized to the hook.  Mine is dyed olive.

Start by putting your bead on your hook and you can optionally add 10 or so wraps of lead wire.

Start your thread just behind the lead wraps.

Wrap your thread across the lead wraps to secure them in place.  Then wrap your thread back to your tie in point for your tail.

Cut an even bunch of fibers from a hares mask.  I like to get my tail fibers from the middle of the hares mask.

Tie in your rib.

Dub a small amount of dubbing onto your thread.  Be careful not to use too much.

Wrap your dubbed thread forward to build a nice tapered body.

Using a brush, or piece of velcro, tease out the body fibers to give it an extra buggy look.

Wrap your rib forward and tie it off with your thread.

Tease out the fibers again.

Tie in some pearl tinsel for your flashback.











Tie in 1 or 2 strands of peacock herl.













..and wrap the peacock forward to build a thorax.











Fold your flashback over your thorax, tie it off, and trim.












Select a feather with fibers no longer than the hook shank.  Strip the fuzzy part from the bottom.

Grab the tip of the feather with hackle pliers and stroke back the fibers so they are standing on a 90 degree angle from the stem as shown.






Tie in the feather by the tip and trim.  The convex side of the feather should be facing up, and the concave side should be facing the shank of the hook.









Grab the stem with a hackle pliers, and wrap about 1 and a half wraps.












Pull the stem fairly tight, and secure the butt end with your thread.  Then trim the butt end of the hackle stem.

Stroke the hackle fibers back to seperate them all, then wrap a few tight wraps of thread.







Whip finish, trim your thread, and apply head cement.