Hook: Curved nymph hook 2x long (shown size 16)
Thread: Purple 70 denier, Red 70 denier – preferred brand is UTC
Rib: small silver and red ultrawire
Bead: White brass or tungsten, sized appropriately. I like to put the bead on with the wide part facing the eye, so make sure to not oversize it.
Other tools: Fly finisher (UV resin, Krazy Glue, or clear polish)
Start by putting on your bead. I prefer to put it on backwards, with the wide part toward the eye of the hook, but that's just my preference. The hook shown is a size 16 and the size of the bead is 3/32-inch. This chart is helpful when sizing beads with hooks. But even so, it can take a bit of trial and error to get one you like.
Start with your red thread and use it to tie in your wire down the shank of the hook. I tie the wire right behind the bead to keep the body of the fly uniform. Tie the two pieces of wire in together to the back of the hook. Then take about three wraps of thread beyond where you will start wrapping your wire. This gives the fly a little red butt. Continually unwind your thread to keep it flat. You can do this by spinning your bobbin counterclockwise. UTC thread flattens nicely, but you have to keep spinning it to keep it flat. A flat thread is important to the finish of the fly, but who knows if the fish care at all.
Wrap the red thread back to the bead and whip finish and cut it. Then start your purple thread. You'll use this thread to build the body and taper. Wrap the purple thread toward the butt of the fly. Make sure the thread is flat, and as you approach the butt, maybe the last two wraps, try and spread the wraps out a bit. You're aim here is to sort of create a transition between the red and purple colors. You want them to sort of bleed into each other in this transition area. Once that's done, use the purple thread to build a taper back to the bead.
Once that's done, take the two pieces of wire and wrap them together in wide spiral wraps up to the bead. Keep the wires together as best you can and try to get about six wraps. Flatten your thread to tie off the wire. Hold the thread tight and helicopter the wire to break it. Then flatten your thread again and whip finish.
The fly pictured is finished with Bone Dry UV resin. But you can also use Krazy Glue or clear nail polish, like Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails. The resin will give it a shell-like look, which I like, but any of these options creates a very durable fly.
How to fish it
Midges are ubiquitous across the west. They are food for trout in rivers and lakes. The larval stage of a midge is what this fly imitates. It's in the wide family of chironomid patterns. These chironomids come in a wide variety of colors, but in Montana, I've had the best luck with a red butt and either this dark purple, which looks black, or just black. Most of the time when I find chironomids in throat samples from trout, they're very small. So, I tie these little flies and fish them under an indicator about a foot or two off the bottom.
You can also fish these in lakes with a long leader and floating line and slowly stripping them. In rivers, you can fish these as a dropper off a larger nymph, as they're very small.
