SMS beetle

[ulf_hagstrom]

This one is perhaps a little overdone for only fishing... but that's how I like to tie them sometimes

A highly successful pattern for me late summer and early fall when there is a lot of terrestrials on the surface. This fly is all about silhouette as the stiff legs give no movement at all. Cast it out and leave it, the strikes will be brutal!!

SBS to be found here:

Flyfishing, Flytying and Outdoor - Elmerfishing.com - The SMS beetle

[alimar]

Spot on ,, very very good ,,

[scotty9]

Saw this on another site, looks great!

Ulf I know half the fun is making them look so real, and dont doubt they are better flies for it.
But do you really think the legs make such a difference as to justify them. For those of us not as skilled as you. do you think this would be as successfull without the legs?

Please dont missunderstand me this isn't crticism I would love to leave a few in the bread bin and scare the Be Jeezus out of mrs Pom!

[stevekale]

Nice. Now how would you make one that's a very shiny irridescent green?

[ulf_hagstrom]

Thanks a lot all of you!

Whingeing pom, I have my own view firmly set on these kinds of patterns. It's öole a mantra that I have repeated over and over again to make myslef belive it I think that nine times out of ten you would not benefit from having such a realistic pattern like this one. You could use foam and just a soft hackle and catch just as much fish. But for the tenth day, when you run into that picky trout or a stretch of water where the fish are very selective, then it's my firm belife that you can benifit from a more realistic pattern. So for a lot of situations you could skip the legs and be just as happy!

Stevekale, I would use white foam that I would colour with a green metalic marker (if there is one?). I actually seen russian fly tyer Sergie Utkin tie a marvelous little green metalic beetle... man I gotta try and do a few of those for this summer!

Cheers everyone!

[stevekale]

I've seen his ant SBS. I might have a look for such a marker. The beetle above is a Manuka Beetle and a suitable fly is a must for fishing high country New Zealand.

[ulf_hagstrom]

Steve, I did a quick goole of the Manuka beetle and it states that it is only 10 mm long, is that correct? I have two friends down in NZ for the moment... I don't think they brought anything simillar to these

[stevekale]

Pyronota festiva aka Green Beetle aka Manuka Beetle because they feed on Manuka trees. I think the length is about 8mm. Most imitations are #12-16.

"Among the more conspicuous New Zealand beetles are the “Huhu” (Prionoplus reticularis), a large dead-wood borer of the family Cerambycidae, the black sand-scarab (Pericoptus truncatus) which spends its larval life under drift wood just above high-tide level on sandy beaches, the grass grub beetle, and the manuka beetle (Pyronota festiva). a bright green scarabaeid species sometimes present in countless numbers on manuka during early to mid-summer. This last species is much favoured as food by trout." Te Ara

"The fly fisherman who fails to carry the odd green beetle in his fly box does so at his peril" - Norman Marsh "Trout Stream Insects of New Zealand".

[stevekale]

Ladies, I bring you...














Herbie - the Manuka Beetle!!!



LOL. Before you ask:

- I used Rainy's float foam for the curvature and only had black
- size 16 isn't a good place to start with this sort of stuff
- the front legs are not in the right position because the first lot got hacked messing with the foam at the end!
- no, I don't know if it floats yet.
- learning to use porcupine guard hairs to do legs is going to take some time, a long time, very long time