Scott Sanchez' Mega Beetle tying sequence

[.D.]

A while since I've done one of these: even forgot to debarb the hook initially.

Anyway, the materials -

Superglue

Hook: 8 -14 (I usually tie them on 12-16 hooks, you can get away with using a medium wire hook as it's almost unsinkable.

Thread: Your usual general purpose thread, typically Danville's Flymaster 6/0 for me. Colour to suit.

Body: Underbody of mylar dubbing e.g. Ice Dub,with a slab of closed cell foam tied on top. Usually Evazote foam of around 2mm for me.Colour to suit.

Legs: Round rubber.Colour to suit.

Indicator/ post: Closed cell foam as above in a readily visible colour.

Hackle: Cock neck or saddle. Colour to suit.

The foam I've used here is a mite thick straight out of the packet so I've cut a piece roughly to size, then sliced a shim (less than 1mm) off it to make it a little thinner.


You want it to be a little longer than the full length of the hook (1 1/2 x the shank length is the guidance offered by its creator), and perhaps around the same width as the gape. However, it's a general terrestrial imitation and the real things come in all shapes and sizes so there is some licence for changing the dimensions. It's not as though all hooks are the same shape anyway.Round off the edges fore-and-aft.


Put a  little dent in the foam at the tying-in point. I've used a cauterizing tool, but you can just use your thumbnail.


Mount the hook, superglue the shank and lay a base of tying thread. Apply the dubbing over the full length and leave the thread hanging around one third of the shank length from the eye.


Catch in the foam with several wraps - you could get away with a broader band of thread than illustrated. Use moderate tension at the 'edges' - you don't want it flaring up.



Catch  one of your leg pairs onto the thread and bring it round as shown, then catch in another pair on the far side.You don't want them sitting too high - it would be a nuisance for tying in the hackle later. In retrospect I could have mounted them marginally lower, but I got away with it.





Catch in your (narrower) strip of indicator foam in the gap on top. A couple of firm turns of thread are plenty, but mind you don't trap any of the legs on the way round.



Attach a hackle by the stripped stalk between the points where the legs and the foam are tied in.


Wrap on a few turns of hackle around the base of the indicator. You might want to hold the indicator as you wrap to stop it twisting too much.


Secure the hackle with a couple of tight turns of thread round the shank and through the two halves of the indicator.



Take the thread  through to the eye and whip finish.



Trim the post, and trim the legs to size,



I like to add just a little more superglue to the exposed thread wraps on the underside to finish



Mega Beetle. Done.

[.D.]

One minor amendment I've tried is to add a little yarn indicator - it does sit very low, so even the bright piece of foam can be hard to see sometimes.

Pretty much the same stage as above after mounting the hackle.I'm using a yarn indicator, so the colour of the foam post is less important.It's worth keeping the foam longer - it makes clipping it short a lot easier later, after you've wound the hackle.



Offer the yarn to the thread as you would the first pair of legs in the earlier tying sequence.



Under the weight of the bobbin guide them into the 'slot'.Add another turn of thread.........





....then tie the rest of the fly.   





I suppose you could vary the proportions to suit particular beetle falls, but I don't encounter that sort of thing very often. I'm pretty convinced they'll take a big leggy foam pattern for any number of casual strays that fall onto the water now and then, beetle or otherwise:







Cheers,

.D.

[Clan Ford]

Looks good .D.

Thanks for posting, I'll give it a try.

Norm

[scotfly]

Superb sbs .D.  :

[paulr]

Great SBS. Really clearly explained.
Need to get some of those bad boys tied up.
cheers
Paul

[Wildfisher]

I have to agree. A first class SBS.

[Ian_M]

That is a great SBS, the photos are brilliant.  Well done that man   :clap;

Thanks for taking the time and the effort.

[.D.]

Thanks chaps .

.D.