The fly box · No. 31 of 36
Rubber-Leg Stone
Large stonefly nymphs crawling over the stones or swept off them.
- Kind
- Nymph
- Hook sizes
- 6–10
- Season
- Spring, summer, autumn
- For
- Trout
- At the vice
- A moderate tie
The dressing
| Hook | 3X-long heavy-wire nymph hook, straight or slightly curved, barbless, sizes 6–10 |
|---|---|
| Thread | Brown or black, 6/0 (140 denier) |
| Tail | Two strands of fine rubber or elastic leg material, splayed, half a shank long |
| Body | Variegated chenille, brown and black or brown and olive, wound in touching turns |
| Rib | None |
| Hackle | Legs: three pairs of rubber strands, tied in at even intervals along the body, standing out at right angles |
| Wing | None |
| Also | Two rubber strands as antennae at the eye; underbody of 0.5 mm lead-free wire over the middle two thirds of the shank |
Tying it
- Wrap lead-free wire along the middle of the shank and bind it down with thread.
- Tie in a doubled rubber strand at the eye for antennae and another at the bend for tails.
- Tie in the chenille at the bend.
- Tie three lengths of rubber across the shank with figure-of-eight turns, spaced evenly, one length on each side at a time if you find that easier.
- Wind the chenille forward, working it between the legs without trapping them.
- Tie off behind the eye, whip finish and trim legs, tails and antennae to length.
Fishing it
Take it to stony, tumbling rivers where big stonefly nymphs live, and fish it hard on the bottom through pocket water, boulder runs and the deep edges of rapids. A 3X (0.20 mm) or 4X (0.18 mm) tippet turns it over and stands up to the rocks. Cast upstream on a short line, keep in touch and let it roll down dead drift; trout often take as it drops into the slack behind a stone. It makes a good anchor fly with a small nymph on a dropper above.
Where it comes from
The best-known fly of this kind is Pat’s Rubber Legs, a stripped-down descendant of the older Girdle Bug from the American West: chenille over wire, with rubber strands for tails, legs and feelers. It looks crude in the hand. In the water the legs flex with every change of current, and that movement does what careful imitation often cannot.