Martin Westbeek
Dry fly
Medium
- Take the thread to the of the hook, dub a body of about 60% of the hook shank
- Tie in two pheasant tail fibers on the left and right side of the fly. Traditionally, Bibio's have knotted legs, but these knots are a weak point, where the leg invariably breaks. So I don't bother, and tie in the fibers as is. I use two fibers left and right, and if one of these fibers breaks (these Oostvoorne rainbows can be rough on flies), I remove one of both fibers on the other side, too, in order to make the fly symmetrical again. Don't know if that makes any difference, but it somehow feels better.
- Clip a wing from the foam (mine are about 12 mm long and 3 mm wide, to end at the hook bend) and tie that in. Seen from below the fly looks like shown.
- Take a hen hackle, stroke the fibers back, and clip the tip off. The little triangle of fibers makes it easy to tie the hen hackle in.
- Tie the hackle in, shiny side up.
- Bibios have a relatively big thorax and head, and Angel Hair is a nice material to dub if you want to produce volume without adding much weight. and Angel Hair does not absorb water. Take 2 or 3 strands, and dub the Angel Hair to the thread.
- Build up a shaggy thorax/head area. If you dub the Angel Hair loose it will take floatant very well.
- Take the hackle, double it by folding the fibers back, and wrap it 4 to 5 times. Build a nice head and clip off the thread.
- Stroke the hackle fibers to the left and right, clip off any remaining fibers on the underside of the fly if you wish, and you're done.
brown trout
rainbow trout (landlocked)
| Hook | dry fly, size 12 |
| Thread | 8/0 Gudebrod black |
| Body | black superfine dubbing |
| Legs | black (or brown) pheasant tail fibers |
| Wing | 1 mm packaging foam |
| Thorax | dubbed black Angel Hair |
| Hackle | Whiting hen, black |
