Libby's Stonefly - Golden Flavor

Cheech July, 2022

This is a variation of "Libby's Stonefly - Salmonfly. We will leave this story here because it's a pretty cool origin story for this pattern.

One day I got a text from a good buddy of ours who has been tying flies and fishing very technical waters for many years... We'll just call him Jared for the sake of the story (and because that's his real name), but Jared came to me and challenged me to create a salmonfly that wasn't based on foam.   Also, his 10 year old daughter Libby has been supervising his tying desk for a few years now, so we decided to name this project after her.  I really love these types of challenges, and my mind immediately started churning through ideas.  I could go the deer/elk and hackle route, but stimulators and sofa pillows (BTW if you use more than half a pound of hackle on your stimmy, it is most likely a sofa pillow, and it might just impede your fly from hooking fish) but I digress... the stimulator route had been run many many times.  I settled on CDC and started right in on the fly design, but only after Jared had sent me pics of the actual salmonflies that he was trying to imitate.  I have fished salmonflies for years, but the first thing that I realized upon studying the pictures is that most commercially available patterns are WAY too orange and bright.  The other thing that was a blaring difference for me was that the body wasn't really black, it wasn't really brown, and it definitely wasn't bright orange.  The color that I went with was kind of a dusty black that I found in the Hemingway beaver plus dubbing that is listed in the recipe.  It's kind of black, but kind of a dark dark gray.  After tying many of these flies, I also found that Semperfli Dirty Bug Yarn makes a very good body in a variety of colors.  There is one called Mottled Olive that actually works really well for this fly.

After I tracked down the materials, it was just a process of making sure that the overall shape of the bug was accurate.  Two thin tails, thick abdomen all the way down to the tails, six legs, beefy thorax, narrow wing that lays on top of the body, small head, antennae, and some type of buoyant feather to make a size 4 hook float.  You'll want to watch the video, but it turns out that 9 CDC feathers will float this bug just fine.

Jared was the first person I shared this bug with, and he said that it floats high and has maximum movement on the water, oh yeah, and the fish DEFINITELY agree with a size 4 CDC bug.  This one is a blast to tie.

 

Material List
  • Hook: TMC 5263 Nymph & Streamer Hook - 25 Pack - 4
  • Thread: Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0 - Yellow
  • Underbody: Polypropylene Floating Yarn (Carded) - Tan
  • Legs/Antennae: Life-Flex Spandex Material - Small - Ginger
  • Body: Dirty Bug Yarn - Mottled Golden Olive
  • Wing: Nature's Spirit Cow Elk Backstrip - 2"x3"
  • Underwing: Hareline Super Select CDC - 1 Gram Pack - Khaki
  • Thorax: Hareline Super Select CDC - 1 Gram Pack - Brown Olive
  • Dubbing: Hare-Tron Dubbing - Ginger
  • Indicator (Optional): EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers - UV Orange
  • Tool: Swiss CDC MultiClamp
  • Tool: Feather Prepper
  • Tool: Smhaen Master Dubbing Twister
  • Materials & Alternate Materials Listed Below
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers
    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers

    EP Trigger Point Int'l Fibers

    $10.99
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0
    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0

    Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread - 6/0

    $3.50
    Swiss CDC MultiClamp
    Swiss CDC MultiClamp

    Swiss CDC MultiClamp

    $44.99
    Polypropylene Floating Yarn (Carded)
    Polypropylene Floating Yarn (Carded)

    Polypropylene Floating Yarn (Carded)

    $1.85
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn
    Dirty Bug Yarn

    Dirty Bug Yarn

    $5.00
    TMC 5263 Nymph & Streamer Hook
    TMC 5263 Nymph & Streamer Hook

    TMC 5263 Nymph & Streamer Hook

    $38.05
    Hare-Tron Dubbing
    Hare-Tron Dubbing

    Hare-Tron Dubbing

    $2.99
    Life-Flex Spandex Material - Small
    Life-Flex Spandex Material - Small

    Life-Flex Spandex Material - Small

    $3.90
    Smhaen Master Dubbing Twister
    Smhaen Master Dubbing Twister
    Smhaen Master Dubbing Twister

    Smhaen Master Dubbing Twister

    $49.95
    Hareline Super Select CDC - 1 Gram Pack
    Hareline Super Select CDC - 1 Gram Pack
    Hareline Super Select CDC - 1 Gram Pack

    Hareline Super Select CDC - 1 Gram Pack

    $15.49
    Swiss CDC MultiClamp - Minus
    Swiss CDC MultiClamp - Minus

    Swiss CDC MultiClamp - Minus

    $44.99
    Nature's Spirit Cow Elk Backstrip
    Nature's Spirit Cow Elk Backstrip

    Nature's Spirit Cow Elk Backstrip

    $4.99
    Feather Prepper
    Feather Prepper

    Feather Prepper

    $7.20
    Libby's Golden Stone
    Libby's Golden Stone

    Libby's Golden Stone

    $4.00
    Smhaen Master Dubbing Twister Regular RED Heavy
    Smhaen Master Dubbing Twister Regular RED Heavy

    Smhaen Master Dubbing Twister Regular RED Heavy

    $50.25