Wiggley Stone

     There are so many styles of stone flies out there, it was hard to find one that I liked.  (see recipe and picture by clicking the title). After seeing some different stones from various rivers, I noticed that the real stones were a little skinnier than their artificial counterparts, and the wing cases were clearly defined.  The flies that were in shops or on the Internet, were fatter and bulky.  Plus I had seen many with 2 or 3 different styles of wing cases.  After playing around trying to make my own, I got very frustrated at the time it took, and the tedious work it was to make the wing cases.  So I decided to make my own stone that fit in my new tying mentality: simple, quick, and effective.   That's when I came up with the Wiggley Stone, which is nothing special, but it catches fish and its very easy to tie.  Here is the recipe, not as easy as making chocolate chip cookies from already made cookie dough, but not that far from it!

Bead: Black or Silver Tungsten to match the hook size
Hook: Any nymph style with be fine, but make sure it is 2x heavy wire, Size 10-18.
Tail: Black Goode Biots
Abdomen: Black 3/0 thread
Rib: Small copper or gold wire
Thorax:  black fine dubbing, with a tiny amount of yellow or lavender UV ice dubbing
Wing Case: Pearl Lateral Scale.
Legs: Black and Olive rubber legs.  Black and gold work well too.

      Key points to make is that you build up your thorax and make it at least twice the size of the abdomen.  As you can see, I added a couple of options.  I have made a few different kinds and they all seem to work.  Plus you can make them in dark brown, light brown, and tan.  Take a look at the stones in the river you are fishing, and mimic the colors and sizes!  You can also add some lead wire to help get it down.  This fly can be used in Czech Nymphing, or while fishing an indicator. 


         The Wiggley Stome saved the day on a bunch of recent trips, especially The Farmington River in CT.  It too the fish in the net yesterday, and the big 19 inch brown pictured below.  Nothing seemed to be working in the tough conditions, and as seen as I saw some stones, threw it on, and within a few casts hook ups!  It has taken a fair share of fish this season so far!

         Tie up a few, try them out  and let us know how they do!  Its also a good pattern for steelhead, especially that it takes only a few minutes to make because we all know how many flies you can loose while steelhead fishing! Good luck!!