DT'S Ant
Aunt Vis
For the past few years I’ve been looking for an ant pattern that was easy to tie, fit the profile and was easy to see. I’ve tried my hand at tying something up but failed for some time. I finally came up with this and after showing it on a fly tying sight people liked it so I decided to do a tutorial on it.
Material; Not much. Trim a narrow piece of black closed cell foam, a good grade of black hackle 1 size undersize, a good pair of scissors and Zap a Gap is important.
Hook; #16 94840 Mustad
Thread; Black 8/0
Underbody; Closed cell foam, mid hook shank to back to bend
Abdomen; Black closed cell foam
Legs; black hackle to fit size #18 hook
Wing; white poly
Thorax; black closed cell foam
1. Thread base hook shank and bring thread about mid point on hook shank. Add Zap a Gap glue on top of thread. (this will hold foam in place)
2. Tie down closed cell foam towards back of hook to bend. Bring thread back to tie in point.
3. Abdomen. Fold cell foam over underbody and tie down.
4. Thread over a small section of the cell foam forming a narrow section between abdomen and thorax.
Tie in black hackle up against abdomen with hackle extending over hook bend.
5. Legs. Usually one or two wraps of good grade hackle is all you need for legs.
6. Wing post. Bring thread just behind loose cell foam and tie in wing post angling back through legs.
7. Bring thread just in front of loose foam and wrap thread to just shy of hook eye.
8. Thorax. Fold foam towards hook eye and tie down behind hook eye.
10; Finished ant
Here you can trim wing post to the length you want. Take a black permanent marker and cover wing post ends on thorax. Trim any excess to get a good profile of the ant. I always add a dab of head cement on finished head thread.
~doubletaper