Saturday, January 28, 2017

SOFT Meeting


SOFT – Tuesday, February 14, 2017 
6:00 pm
   8401 Old Stage Road, Gold Hill

This month we are in for a real treat.  Lee Wedberg shares his Stonefly Nymph.  If you were ever lucky enough to fish with Lee, you know that he is a fishy kind of guy and only fishes with flies that produce.  Nuff said.


Lee Wedberg Stonefly Nymph - 2016

Hook -    Size 6 to 4, shank 20-30 mm long, down turned eye, such as Mustad 9672, 36890, or R75-79580 (2XH/5XL).

Thread - Black 6/0 or 8/0

Lead -     Secure 0.030 lead to each side of shank.  To do this, secure one end of lead near the hook eye using 5 wraps of thread, then bend lead out of the way and make three firm turns of thread on the shank.  Next secure the another lead strip to the other side of shank with 5 wraps of thread, bend out of the way, and wrap thread three firm turns on shank.  Continue so that one strip of lead is secured on each side of the shank.  Finally wrap lead on forward 2/3 of shank, and
overwrap with thread spiraled over head to tail.

Tail - Two black goose biots, short and flared.

Rib -  Secure 4 to 7 inches’ dark copper wire at tail end of shank.

Belly - Tie on some white fleece on under side at tail end of shank.

Body - Tie on part of a lock of black Romney fleece by its tip (often sun bleached); wrap thread forward to head.  With an occasional twist, wrap black fleece forward short of the eye; secure and trim.  Turn hook upside down, pull white fleece forward along belly of fly, and secure by  (counter wrapping) spiraling copper wire forward making evenly spaced segments length of the body.  Now spiral thread back over ribs to the middle of the fly.  Return fly upside up.

Wing case -  Use barbs from large black goose or mottled turkey tail feathers.  Apply Hard as Nails (with fingernail polish at grocery store), and snip about 5 mm (maybe 9 barbs) from the rachis.  Tie in at midpoint of body, extending backwards over bend of hook.

Legs - Use guinea hackle feathers.  Determine the length of barbs to use as legs, then strip and remove all longer barbs.  Pinch and flatten the rachis at the base of the remaining barbs.  On top of the wing case, secure rachis at the base of the remaining barbs with the stripped rachis pointing toward the head, and the barbed portion toward
the tail.  Trim and remove stripped rachis. Carefully pull tip of feather forward, separate about 5 barbs on each side and secure with two or three thread wraps, then pull wing case over and secure it at the same point.  Move thread forward and repeat once or twice to complete four or six legs emanating from beneath the wing case. 

Antennae and head - Wrap a thin head, then tie on two thin rubber legs or peccary hairs for antennae, holding antennae back over the fly.  Continue wrapping a tapered head.  Finally pull antennae forward and overwrap to hold them splayed forward.  Whip finish immediately behind the bases of the antennae.  Trim antennae to about half the length of the body of the fly.

Three photos and instructions for small version are below:



Lee Wedberg Small Stonefly Nymph

This smaller version seems to hook at least as many fish as the larger.  It is tied exactly the same as the larger size above, with the following exceptions:

Hook - Size 8 Mustad 7957, or size 10 Mustad 94840

Lead -  Size .016.

Wing case - Thinner, maybe seven or eight barbs.

Rib - Very thin or black wire.

Legs - Dark brown pheasant body feather, or partridge speckled.

Antennae - Moose, or 3-pound test Maxima darkened with felt tip
permanent marker.

Top view from the side

Bottom view

Side view