Tying the Staple: Your Go-To Guide Fly for Runoff and Beyond

I know I’m cranking out the fly-tying videos lately. It’s a quick way for me to get content out there, especially with about eighty-seven different irons in the fire right now. Our guide season has been full-on – I’ve been out on the water a ton. It’s been windy, to say the least, but the fish are still eating. Let me tell you, rowing a boat in a 30 mph wind is no picnic, so stay in school, kids – pro tip right there! But enough about the wind; let’s get down to business and tie this fly.

Alright, party people, let’s make this happen. I’ve got a Falling Wheel Check Nymph hook in the vise, size 14 in the bronze. I actually prefer the black nickel finish, but hey, ran out – I’m human. I’ve got a 2.8-millimeter bead slid onto the front, and I’m coming in with some 020 lead wire, about six or seven turns. This is just going to help with the taper. We’ll twist that off, twist that off, and jam that right up into the bead. Next up, UTC 70 Denier thread. We’ll start right behind that little lead bump and build up a little thread dam to lock that lead securely in place. Alright, snip that tag end – whatever’s left is cool. I’m going to advance this thread down the curved hook shank until we get right to where it starts to slope down.

Creating The Body

Next, we’re grabbing some Coq de Leon. It’s a really durable product. With this, I like to use about, I don’t know, half a dozen, maybe seven or eight fibers. These tails don’t have to be ultra-thin; we’re not tying a Paragone here. On this fly, it doesn’t need to be perfect. I’m probably going to go about half a shank length. This Renetti Presentation 2000 vise is excellent, by the way. I do have a Master Vice, which I think I’ve threatened to review a bunch of times now. Once I’ve locked that Coq de Leon in there, I’m just going to advance my thread and trim up those nasty ends to make it look nice and pretty. Okay, we’re good there. So, I’m just going to advance my thread and cover up those nasty ends.

Lock In The Rib

Next, we’re tying in the actual hot rib, which is just shade five in Glo-Brite floss. Now, I’m not going to wrap this conventionally; I’m actually going to cord this up later. So, I’m going to cut a long piece, double it over, making myself a loop. I’m just going to pull this through, and what I’ll end up doing is putting a dubbing spinner through that loop and creating that rib. I’ll even show you a trick to make it more durable. So, I’ve got that locked in. I’m all about efficiency here. So, what we’re going to do is cut a piece of opal Mylar or Mirage tinsel in opal. Bet you didn’t know that was the proper pronunciation! Just kidding, don’t believe me. So, I have some right here. You want to cut about an inch and a half. And just for the sake of efficiency, I’m going to stack this on top of what I just did. We’ll come back – that’s going to bother me; I could have trimmed it, but whatever. Anyway, I’ve got the rib and what will be the flashback, and we are just advancing down to the tie-in point right there.

Alright, the nice thing with this Renzetti, which you can’t see off-camera, is that I have a material clip on this vise. So, by leaving that stuff long, I can just clip it in and get it out of the way. Amazing! Alright, we are getting closer and closer to the end.

That Two Tone Tho

Next, we’re going to grab some Hareline Dubbin in dark. This fly is really cool because it has that two-tone effect, so the abdomen is darker, and the thorax is going to be a lighter color, which you often see in nature. So, I’m going to grab my Hareline Dark Thread R. You could use dubbing wax for this one; I’m not going to. And we’re just going to twist this up onto the thread. When I’m twisting, I like to pull back or pull to the right (I’m right-handed) with my pointer finger and push to the left with my thumb. So, we’ve got that loaded up, and we’re just going to start advancing this thread. Now, this isn’t a midge, so it doesn’t have to be, you know, “thin to win.” You can be a little generous through here. You don’t want like a super dummy-thick body, but you do want to build some taper. I really believe it’s important to build taper into your bugs, just like the naturals, just getting a good profile. Anyway, I’m stabbing myself – that hook is sharp! And I’m going to wrap back or wrap forward to basically right in front of the hook point, maybe an eye width in front of the hook point. I’m going to take my Mylar, pull it over the back – one loose wrap, pinch, just center this up. Cool, two wraps, it looks centered. If it’s off-axis, you might as well just quit fly tying – just hang it up, it’s not for you! Just kidding. Okay, we all started somewhere. Also, this probably isn’t going to be even anyway. Trout have pea-sized brains; it’s not going to matter.

So, I created that loop with the two strands of the Glo-Brite. I’m going to come in here with a dubbing spinner. I’m just going to twist it up. So, here comes the hot rib. Now, this is something you’re not going to want to mess up, but in order to make this more durable, I’m going to give it a turn to get ready to Palmer this rib. And I’m going to take some Solarez Bone Dry. Clean some of this up, but take some Solarez Bone Dry and just kind of touch, touch that rib a little bit. You can clean this up too, just take off the excess with your finger, but you want that Bone Dry to soak into that rib, and you’ll see why because this is the most brittle part of the fly. So, I’m going to wrap over, and I don’t know the magic number – you know, if it feels good, it is good. So, I’m just wrapping forward, four wraps, let’s do five, let’s get crazy. Okay, so now I’m going to pull this Mylar out of the way, catch that Glo-Brite – dunzo, trim that. Then I’m going to take my handy-dandy Loon light – boom, cook it! That Glo-Brite! The fish love this thing, trout love this thing, whitefish love this thing, suckers love this thing, but the trout are the ones with the teeth, and those little trout teeth will bust up that Glo-Brite. So, by just taking the extra time to give that a little coating of Solarez, it’ll stiffen that up and protect it from those toothy trout.

Wrapping Up The Thorax

Alright, so now we’re just going to build up the thorax. We’re going to grab some Hareline in a light color. So, I’m just going to spin up this thorax. Alright, advance that thread, we’re going to cover that up. Oh no, I covered one of the hot ribs! If there are only four ribs, it won’t work! Alright, twist it, that looks good. And then I’m just going to pull my Mylar forward, one, two, three, four. We’re going to trim that off – boom! Alright, your boy forgot his super glue, so it’s okay, there’s a fix for that. I’m not going to run to my other area and get it, so I’m just going to, you know, let’s touch it with our good old friend Solarez Bone Dry, and we’re going to create just a little bit of a hot spot. Come in with the handy-dandy whip finisher, one, two, three, boom! I’m going to pull back, trim that, let’s cook it one more time. And again, you should just use super glue, but you know, overcome, improvise, adapt, and we did it!

Big round of applause, you’re a superstar, you just tied! Thanks for tagging along on this video. I know this pattern will produce for you, and yeah, thank you so much everybody for watching, and we’ll see you guys on the next video. One love.