Black Foam Beetle
Tied by Gary Meier
Hook: Tiemco 100BL or your favorite standard dry fly hook
Thread: Black 6/0
Underbody/Carapace: 1/8 inch black fly foam (1/4 inch strip for size 14)
Overbody: rope made of two strands of peacock hurl twisted around a strand of peacock Krystal Flash
Legs: Three strands of black Krystal Flash
“Wing” (optional): “Decent” clump of red Krystal Flash
1. Wrap thread to the shank of the hook.
2. Tie on foam strip , let hang over the back of the hook, and over-wrap thread to about 2/3 up the hook shank toward the eye. (The foam should not extend any further than this point.) Return thread to foam tie in point. Tie the foam down tightly so that it doesn’t spin around the hook when you are performing the other tying operations.
3. Tie on two strands of peacock hurl and a strand of peacock Krystal Flash. Twist the three strands into a rope, wind forward to the end of the foam, and trim off the excess rope. The Krystal Flash is optional, but I find that it adds strength and a bit of flash to the hurl – both of which I consider positive attributes in a fly. You can tie the beetle without any over-body, but I have found that the peacock body outfishes the beetle without it, so I recommend the small added time it takes to add it. Worst case scenario: It’s chicken soup.
4. Pull foam up over hook and tie down just at end of body. Take several tight wraps around the foam to create a small “neck”.
5. Clip foam off even with hook eye, creating the beetle’s head.
6. Tie in three strands of black Krystal Flash at “neck” and figure eight the strands in place. Don’t figure eight so tightly that the legs clump as one.
7. If you are like me, and have trouble seeing a black, low-lying fly on the water, you’ll want to add a clump of red Krystal Flash at the neck for a wing. The wing isn’t visible to the trout, but it glows in any kind of light, making it easy for even my old eyes to see. I have experimented with different winging, and the red Krystal Flash seems to be most visible, but you can substitute anything if you know of something that is more visible.
8. Half hitch thread under the head and over the hook eye three or four times, and clip off thread. This operation lifts the head a bit and makes the hook eye more accessible.
9. Pull legs and wing back to back of hook and clip even with the hook bend.
10. Add a drop of lacquer to “neck” and half hitches, and cest viola, you’re done.
This fly is dynamite on weedy flats when fished with a long leader during the dog days of summer! Expect explosive strikes.