Fly Tying

>Directions: Start the thread behind the eye and put down a layer to the end of the hook. Tie in a length of fine copper wire at the end. Tie in a lenght of the scud back at the end. Cut a narrow strip of orange foam a little bit wider than the guage of the hook. Now tie that in at the end as well. So now you'll have 3 layers of materials hanging off the back of your hook! Dub a meaty body (don't skimp, just wad it on there) up the shank to they eye. Seriously, make a pretty fat body. The pattern will look silly if you don't make the body corpulent! Leave yourself a bit of room so you don't end up crowding the eye of the hook. Pull the orange foam up over the dubbing and tie it off. Make sure it's running straight up the back of the pattern. Think of it as the spine. Tie off the foam with a couple of thread wraps. Snip any excess. Next, pull the scud back over the top of the foam and dubbing and tie that off with a few thread wraps. Make sure that the scud back is as centered as you can get it before you tie it off. Snip any excess. Now wrap the copper ribbing up to where you've tied everything else off. 3 wraps looked good on a size 18. Tie that off and snip the excess. Whip finish and slap some head cement on the knot. Last, tease some of the dubbing out from between the copper ribbing with a pin or a bodkin to give it that buggy look.

>Comments: This simple sow bug pattern has worked well when fished deep, during and after hatch periods. There are tons of sow bugs in the water during the entire year, but fish tend to focus on sow bugs during the winter months when food choices are limited. The Middle Provo will be a good bet to try this pattern out on.