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MATERIALS:

• Basic colors: Rusty or medium Brown, Black, Chartreuse, Wine
• Hook: Mustad 3366 Bass Bug, 1/0
• Thread: Single strand 3/0 Floss (fl. Red, fl. Char., brown)
• Tail: Rabbit strip
• Body: Ice chenille or Estaz chenille
• Hackle: Long-fibered saddle or schlappen
• Flash: Four strands one color Holographic Krystal Flash, four strands of a second color of the same, (or other flash material*)
• Eyes: 7/32 or 8/32 (gold, silver, yellow or red) leadeyes with stick-on eyes added
• Weedguard: 22 to 30 pound test Mason Hard Type Leader material (mono**)

* For flash I like Flashabou Holographic and krystal flash mixed.
** I like Mason because it's slick, thin for it's diameter, and stiff enough to ward off the kind of snags in which I fish, yet soft enough to collapse easily on the hookset.

TYING PREP:

1. Pre-cut the rabbit into six-inch long strips. Pre-cut the ice chenille into five-inch strips.
2. Pre-paint the heads of 7/32 and 8/32 leadeyes. Best colors are chartreuse, fl. orange, and fl. red. These sizes of leadeyes will turn over a 3366 size 1 and 1/0 hook so they ride point up. 6/32 and 5/32 are not heavy enough to do this. Although the fly rides up most of the time, it still rolls from side-to-side as the current pushes it around and as it rolls over objects.
3. Layout your flash materials so they are easily seen and within reach.

TYING INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Place hook into vise. Wrap the shank with thread, starting from just above the hook point back, to the hook's barb. Move thread back to above the point. Tie in the mono here and wrap the thread halfway down the hook's bend, securing the mono to the hook as you go. Take hackles pliers and move the mono out of the way.
2. Move thread to the front of the hook. Take a pair of leadeyes and tie in behind the hook's eye. Leave some room to work with between the leadeyes and the hook's eye.
3. Take a strip of rabbit. Using a ruler, cut it to six-inches long. Tie in the rabbit, hide side up, just behind the eye. Wrap the thread back to the bend, securing the rabbit to the top of the shank as you go. Hold the rabbit as you wrap the thread so the hide doesn't spin or turn over, fur side up. This fly rides hook up so the fur side will be up if tied this way.
4. Cut four strips of flash material and lay them out in front of you. Cut another four strips of another color of flash. Lay it with the first group. Moisten your thumb and first finger and grab the flash in the center of the strips. Tie in the flash so an equal amount of strips go on each side of the rabbit tail.
5. Move thread to just behind eye. Tie in flash chenille and wrap the thread back to the bend, securing the chenille to the top of the shank as you did the rabbit.
6. Tackle a piece of schlappen or other long-fibered saddle. Tie in the feather tip first, back at the bend.
7. Move thread to just behind eyes.
8. Wrap the chenille forward to the eyes.
9. Palmer the hackle forward in three to four wraps. Wrap once or twice to form a collar. Secure and cut
10. Move thread to in front of eyes. Build up a small head of thread.
11. Release the mono weedguard and pull it up the to in front of the eyes. Pull it up on your side of the shank, (not to the underside of the shank). Wrap the floss tightly three times around the mono securing it to the side of the shank. It should still have a nice “bow” to it shaped.
12. Move floss in front of mono. Build up the head. Don't cut yet.
13. Turn the fly so the underside of the fly, and the hook point are facing you. Using your thumb and first finger, tightly grab the thread head, (not the eyes) and adjust the mono so it lines up directly in a straight line from the eye to the hook point.
14. Turn the fly back to normal position. Now whip finish or perform two or three half-hitches and cut the floss. Cut the excess mono. Coat the head with drops of superglue. Add a drop or two of superglue just behind the eyes where the hackle and chenille body were tied off.
15. Add stick on eyes to contrast the color of the lead; Touch with clear nail polish afterwards. Try:
    - red or orange stick on over yellow or nickel leadeyes
    - yellow or char eyes over red or gold leadeyes
    - any color over black leadeyes (including gold, silver, or pearl prismatic eyes)

NOTES: "Don't be satisfied with the first tie. It may take years for a pattern to reach its full potential; even if it catches fish from the get-go, the fly will evolve, sometimes looking markedly different than it started. Field testing by friends, not just you, is essential to knowing if the damn thing really works. It must be fished hard to find out if, where, and when it works. Can the ego; while some flies are instantly "on the money", like the Dahlberg Diver and Clouser's Minnow, and require few changes other than cosmetic ones, most flies aren't so touched by providence. Wishing you creative tying and good fishing!"