RS2
The RS2 is something of a classic pattern, especially in the US Rockies. It was developed for use on the South Platte, Cheesman and Deckers area, by local fishing bum Rim Chung. The name actually is an abbreviation for Rim's Semblance #2. No one seems to know what became of RS1... It is a pattern in the tradition of Sawyer's pheasant tail, a Jack of all trades, master of none. It is a general emerger pattern, imitating no natural in particular. It can be tied in every color imaginable, but the most popular colours seem to be pale yellow, olive, dark olive, and grey.
Again it is a fairly easy tie. The tails, which usually are about shank length, but can be made longer or shorter to taste or necessity, are split by dubbing a tiny ball of fur at the tip of the abdomen before tying in the moose hairs, and then wrapping the moose hairs tightly against this dubbing ball, keeping one hair on each side of the shank. I prefer to tie in the wing next. Take two or three short CDC feathers, depending on hook size, and tie in with the tips projecting over the eye. We will be slanting them back in due course, but I find that this method makes for a neater fly than completing the abdomen and then tying in the wing with the tips projecting over the bend. Next make a nicely tapered abdomen from the same dubbing as used for the tail-splitting ball, up to the wing, covering the CDC (or antron) butts. Next bring the thread in front of the wing, bend the wing backwards and lock it in that position by making a thread wall in front of it. Use enough thread tension to achieve this with the minimum amount of wraps. Dub a 'head' with the same fur as used for the abdomen and whip finish -- three wraps should suffice.