Wired stonefly

Tied by Jeremy Barela
Photo by Jeremy Barela

Hook: Daiichi 1270 #12-18
Thread: Black 8/0
Tail and legs: Tan colored goose biot – 3 pairs of legs
Abdomen: Hot Yellow and Copper UTC wire (medium size)
Thorax: Peacock herl
Head: 1/8 Gold bead

Slide bead on hook and place in vice. Start thread behind bead and wrap back to above the barb. Tie in tail with biot material, placing biots flat with hook. Wrap thread back up towards bead, covering biot. Cut piece of yellow and copper wire and place the right ends of wire inside the bead. Wrap thread back towards the barb, keeping the wire together and on your side of the hook.

Wrap wire simultaneously up shank in touching turns to create a rib effect. Continue wrapping thread until you have reached ¾ up to the eye of the hook. Tie off wire and cut, placing tag ends inside bead on the opposite side of the hook. Tie in first set of legs where wire ends. Tie in the biot so that the tip reaches just to the beginning of the wire. I also tie these in so the convex sides of the biot are facing in, allowing for the biot to stick out from the body a bit more. Tie in piece of peacock herl and wrap back over biots, then back forward. Tie in the second set of legs, making sure biot reaches the halfway point of the wire abdomen. Wrap peacock herl in-between first two sets of biot and forward two wraps. Tie in third set of biot. Wrap peacock herl in-between last two sets of biot and forward to bead. Tie of and trim and whip finish fly. You can tie this fly in various colors to match the naturals in your area. I fish this fly on the bottom using no weight, but you may need to add split to help you get it deeper if you are fishing fast water.

This is an easy fly to tie, originating from the now famous Copper John. I have used it during the stonefly hatch on the Cimarron River in New Mexico, and have had great success. I also tie this fly with a black and amber colored wire to imitate the darker stoneflies that hatch on the Jemez River in New Mexico. The wire performs two jobs. One is to create a ribbed two-color effect for the fly, and the other is to weight the stone and keep it on the bottom where the naturals live out their lives as nymphs.