Henry's Fork Beetle
Tying instructions:
Starting about a quarter of a shank length back from the eye, tie in a 1-1/2" to 2" piece of egg yarn, using about a third of a diameter of the yarn. Tie in with tight thread wraps, working the thread back to the tailing position. Tie in three strands of peacock herl and form a "herl yarn" using the thread. Wrap herl forward to about a third of a shank length back from the eye. Tie in the hackle, and then continue the herl body up to where you tied in the egg yarn and tie off. Palmer the hackle forward over the forward section of herl and tie off. Bring the shellback forward over body and hackle and tie off tightly and whip finish. Clip the stub end of the egg yarn to leave a small "head" and clip a "vee" out of the bottom of the hackle. whip finish.
Notes:
This is a recent addition to my standards for the Henry's Fork. Until this year, I'd carried beetles tied with a deerhair "shell," but I never really liked either their appearance or their durability. I got "forced" into a beetle situation on the 2001 trip, and the first day I decided to try some midge clusters tied a few years ago for a San Juan trip using the black "egg yarn." They produced pretty well, but I wanted a true beetle tie. The egg yarn patterns had worked okay, so I decided to try a variation on the theme. The results with the fly shown were excellent.