Winged Ants

Being as it's that time of year again when these bugs are landing on the water, I've been tying some of these for a fellow and thought I'd put up a tute on 'em. Many different ways of tying these - if anyone got the latest issue of FlyFisherman - there's some good patterns in one of the articles - anyway here's just one more way.


1. Size 16 hook shown here - thin wire.





2. If you use foam - you can get the sheet foam at any craft store. Cut a thin strip off the edge of the sheet - about 1/8" and cut a point on one end. Cuts down on the bulk when you tie it in. Brush on a very small amount of Zap a Gap when tying it in. Helps to hold it in place.








3. Fold the end over and tie in - creating a "hump". Cut off excess foam strip.





4. To create the wings take a hackle and coat it with "Hard as Nails" and begin pulling the fibers to the rear. Do this a few times till the cement dries and the fibers stay in place and the cement dries. Tie in two wings like this just in front of the rear hump.














5. Tie in a hackle - I like to use brown hackle on these - gives a different color to the legs but you can use black. To each his own.





6. Tie in another strip of foam just behind the eye - prep it the same way you did for the rear. Fold it over and tie in place. Cut off excess foam.








7. Tie in a small amount of glo bug yarn so you can see the stinkin thing in the water! With my eyes - I need this!





8. Wind hackle forward - one turn behind the yarn and one in front. Tie off in front of the eye, trim off the yarn to length.