Freshly returned from a trip to the Bokong river in Lesotho with African Waters, Gordon van der Spuy (author of The Feather Mechanic), shares this quick foam ant tie that proved highly effective for both yellowfish and trout.
He says, “I absolutely love Larva Lace dry fly foam. It’s great to work with as it’s softer than most other foams and compresses well under thread tension. It also gives you a good looking fly as it shapes nicely. This fly can be tied in 5 minutes. Recently tested it on the Bokong where it did very well.”
Hook: Gamakatsu C12
Thread: Griffiths sheer 14/0
Body: larva lace dry fly foam. This can be hard to find in South Africa. Email Gordon at gordon.vanderspuy@gmail.com as he recently brought some stock in.
Post: Polypropylene
Hackle: Grizzly ( the hackle mustn’t mess with the profile, grizzly hackle gives the impression of wings and legs without messing with the profile. The two body sections need to be distinct with a definite waist)
Thorax: Peacock dubbing
Lay a thread base of thread where your body will be….
Tie in a thin strip of Larva lace foam in for the body.
Pull foam over tightly and tie in. Note end position of thread. NB
Pull excess foam tightly and cut…
Tie in a polypropylene post.
Tie hackle in.
Dub thorax, note end position of thread. Ready to tie hackle off on base of post….
Wrap hackle down post and tie off on post….
Cut off excess hackle and trim post and boom Shakalaka, hier Kom groot Kakka!
For more fly tying insight and instruction, get a copy of Gordon’s brilliant book, The Feather Mechanic here.
