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Foam Ant Tied by Aaron Cheatham |
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Hook: Orvis 1523 size #16 Thread: Danville Black 6/0 Body: Black craft foam Indicator: Orvis Para-Post Hackle: Hoffman Grade #3 Rooster Cape - Black |
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Tying Instructions: 1. Fix the hook in the vise and layer it with thread starting from a couple hook eye lengths back to the start of the bend of the hook. 2. Cut a strip of black foam about as wide as the hook gap and a little longer than the length of the hook. Tie in the black foam at the center of the hook with the front end of the foam projecting over the hook eye and the back end projecting over the hook bend. Cover the center third of the hook shank with thread wraps over the foam. 3. Tie in a section of para post over the center third of the hook with the back end of the para post extending up and back over the hook bend. Clip the excess para post at the front and cover with thread wraps. 4. Select a rooster hackle appropriate to the hook size (us a hackle guide or measure about one and a half times the hook gap). Tie it in by the stem just in front of the para post with the shiny side of the feather facing away from you (dry fly style, although I don't think it matters on this fly). Wrap the hackle around the hook shank and foam toward the front of the middle section of the fly so that it covers the center third of the hook shank where we have placed the thread wraps. Tie off the hackle behind the forward extension of the foam and trim the excess hackle tip. 5. Pull back the foam head at the front of the fly and wrap the thread a few times around the front of the hook shank in front of the foam. Whip finish the head at this point, clip the thread and cement. (I tend to just whip finish twice here and it holds fine.) 6. Use your scissors to cut a v-notch in the hackle on the underside of the fly so it will float flush in the water. You can also trim the front of the foam just above the hook eye if it is too long and clip the rear foam so that it extends just beyond the hook shank if it is too long. Finally, you can also use your scissors to round the front and back ends of the foam to make it look more realistic, but I doubt that the trout look that closely. |
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Notes: Courtesy of Dave Hughes' book, Trout Flies, but I think he got this from Skip Morris's book Tying Foam Flies. I have made a few modifications This fly can also be tied parachute style if you prefer by tying the para post at the middle of the hook shank parachute style and using a longer hackle wrapped around the post parachute style instead of around the hook shank. |
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Aaron Cheatham San Carlos, California, USA Email: [email protected] |
