A few years ago I saw a foam wing salmon fly nymph pattern that was killer looking and very popular on the Yellowstone River in Montana. The fly was called “Real Black Stone” if I remember, but I never found the pattern available commercially and never saw a recipe or a tutorial. The fly was more complicated with eyes, individually cut wing case segments, knotted rubber legs, and all black dubbing of some sort. This is my version, but I added the tan dubbing, and brown rib for better contrast and realism, and simplified the pattern by deleting the eyes, the knotted legs, and forming the wing case out of one piece of foam instead of several pieces.
Notes; if you are worried about the foam adding to much buoyancy, don’t. The added lead more than makes up for the foam. If you are still worried, add more lead, if you are still worried add a 3.2 mm tungsten bead behind antennae, if you are still worried use .5 mm foam for wing case instead of 1mm, and if you are still worried use thin skin and forget about the foam altogether.
Hook; TMC 200R #6
Thread; 6/0 or 140 Denier Tan and Black
Tail; Black Goose Biots
Abdomen; Tan Micro Chenille, Waspi Antron dubbing Chestnut
Rib; Small Brown Holo Tinsel
Thorax; Light Tan Waspi Sow Scud dubbing
Wing Case; 1mm Black Foam
Rear Legs; Black Flexi Floss
Front Legs; extra-small Black Round rubber
Antennae; extra-small Black Round rubber
Weight; .025 lead wire
Step 1; tie on antennae, form a small head and whip finish if you are tying several flies or continue to step 2
Step 2; tie on lead wire down one side of hook shank, and leave a gap near the hook eye. If you want a heavier fly tie on an additional length of lead wire on the opposite side too.
Step 3; twist off extra lead and wrap thread several times to secure
Step 4; tie a long length of micro chenille on top of hook, this forms the anal gills and adds bulk to the fly
Step 5; tie on a long length of brown holo tinsel
Step 6; wrap chenille fwd and trim at the point of the gap. Note; wrap one wrap of chenille behind rib, so the rib doesn’t slip off the chenille and loosen. This is basic fly tying technique but a lot of tiers still miss this important step.
Step 7; tie in goose biots for the tail, stop the thread about 1/8 inch fwd of the end of the chenille to form the anal gills
Step 8; apply, chestnut Antron dubbing evenly and sparsely to thread
Step 9; dub fwd covering the tan chenille, stop dubbing at about ½ the hook shank length
Step 10; wrap the tinsel fwd about 6-8 turns and tie off
Step 11; tie in rear legs so that they angle back, trim to desired length. I leave them long for more movement
Step 12; whip finish black thread, and go have a drink, you’re about half done
Step 13; start your tan thread
Step 14; dub a sparse amount of tan dubbing to the end of the chenille
Step 14a; prepare a 1/4 inch strip of 1mm black foam at least 2 inches long and cut a small notch in one end. I use a small Chernobyl cutter
Step 15; tie in notched end of foam wing case, the apex of the notch should be at the transition point of the tan and brown dubbing
Step 16; tie in middle legs with flexi floss, angle almost straight out
Step 17; dub around legs with additional tan dubbing and whip finish
Step 18; start your black thread again, fold foam wing case back, loop forward and tie off at the end of your tan dubbing
Step 19; begin tying down foam fwd toward hook eye
Step 19a; advance thread to just behind hook eye
Step 20; tie in front legs (round rubber) and angle slightly fwd
Step 21; fill in the gap, and around the front legs with chestnut Antron dubbing
Step 22; fold foam wing case back and secure with a few wraps of thread
Step 23; add a small amount of chestnut Antron dubbing to cover thread wraps and whip finish. Trim off excess foam in a semi-circle shape. Trim all legs and antennae to desired length.
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