Chernobyl Ant

[Phil Lilley]

Chernobyl Ant

Recipe:

Hook: 2xl dry fly hook Sz 4-8

Thread: UTC 140 / color to match body

Underbody: Krystal chenille or just a thread body. Thread needs to match the foam that will be the first underbody.

Overbody: Two pieces cut to length /2mm foam

Legs: Round rubber legs

Indicator: red 2mm foam cut to length,.

Tying Instructions

Start your thread and advance the thread to the bend.

At this point you should have already cut your strips of foam to length. When measuring the foam strips, you only need to make them hang off the hook on both sides just a little bit. Go ahead and tie your first piece on, but don’t make a lot of wraps because you will be tying a lot more on top of that first piece.

If you notice that I have pulled back the first piece to wrap in front of that. I do that to keep the foam from sliding or spinning around to the underside. This will prevent that.

The next piece of foam should be the same cut as the first one. Tie that on top of the first one and make sure that you are tying the thread wraps on top of eachother and not going side by side. The key is not to see a lot of thread wraps through the foam. And don’t do to many wraps. I do about three turns and then pull back and do one turn.

The next step is to tie the little piece they call the “indicator”. This is cut to be small and only enough to see.

Once you have tied all the foam on, pull back and do a few turns to lock them in to prevent them from shifting.

This is a cool trick if you don’t know how to do it. Here we go. With one of the rubber legs. Put it in the jaw of your vise and what you will want to do is stretch it out and with a marker, slide the marker down in a smooth straight line. Only slide the marker down once. If you slip with the marker you will more than likely goof it up and have to start over with a new piece. Next thing you will do after you slide the marker down the rubber leg is let go of it and it should put the lines in the rubber. Just remember that you can’t let go of the rubber until you have marked it. You need to have it stretched until you mark it.

Once you have marked all four, you are ready to tie them in. Wrap them around the thread and slide them up to the side of the shank. Then do a turn to secure them.

Once you have the two legs tied in at the back. Advance the thread up to the eye and you are ready to do the same thing to the front.

Fold over the foam and tie it down. If you notice to much hanging over the front, go ahead and cut to the length you desire.

Fold the next piece over and tie that in.

Tie in the other piece of the indicator and now you are ready for the next set of legs.

After you have tied in the legs you are ready to whip finish the fly.

[Brian K. Shaffer]

Nicely tied Jeremy!

You can even go more wild and tie this version too :

best fishes - Brian