Post by Charlie Dickson on Aug 10, 2007 14:18:45 GMT -5
This is an interesting ant pattern developed in Pennsylvania by a guy named Ed Sutryn and named after his home town.. I believe he even held a patent on the pattern. In any event it is a great working pattern. Not many people make this fly anymore so other than making your own you may have difficulty finding them. Here is a tutorial on them that I put together. Keep in mind that like anything there is more than one way to make this fly. This is just the method I use.
Hook : 14 - 22 (dry)
Thread : Black, red or brown.
Body : Two pieces of balsa wood joined with monofilament. Painted black, red or brown.
Hackle : Black, red or brown dry fly hackle (sometimes a ‘V’ is cut in the bottom of the hackle to make it float more flush in the surface film.)
I have found that for this fly it is best to start with a 1/8inch square stick of balsa wood.
Grab the stick by one end with one hand and wrap a piece of fine sand paper around the other end and begin to spin the stick against the sand paper and round off the square edges creating a cylinder. Continue to sand the stick until the cylinder is the proper size for the ant you are making.
With a very sharp razor blade, cut off two segments of the cylinder. One for the ants head and one for its abdomen.
Poke a hole through the center of each segment with a piece of wire or a fine needle.
Thread one of the segments onto a piece of tippet. 2X to 4X works well depending on the size of the ant. Then burn one end of the tippet and form a small ball on the end.
Pull the tippet back through the segment with enough pressure to pull the ball into but not through the segment.
Thread the second segment onto the tippet.
Cut off the excess and burn a second ball onto that end of the tippet.
Pull the tippet back through the segment with enough pressure to pull the ball into but not through the segment.
Completed body, ready to paint.
Apply paint to the segments in the proper color to match the ant you are imitating. In this case black.
Put a hook in the vise and start some thread on the shank, again in the proper color to match the ant you are imitating.
Tie the balsa wood ant body you created onto the top of the hook shank.
Tie in a hackle in the proper color to match the ant you are imitating.
Wind the hackle in between the body segments
Tie it off, trim the excess hackle and whip finish.
Finished product.
One in red.
Hook : 14 - 22 (dry)
Thread : Black, red or brown.
Body : Two pieces of balsa wood joined with monofilament. Painted black, red or brown.
Hackle : Black, red or brown dry fly hackle (sometimes a ‘V’ is cut in the bottom of the hackle to make it float more flush in the surface film.)
I have found that for this fly it is best to start with a 1/8inch square stick of balsa wood.
Grab the stick by one end with one hand and wrap a piece of fine sand paper around the other end and begin to spin the stick against the sand paper and round off the square edges creating a cylinder. Continue to sand the stick until the cylinder is the proper size for the ant you are making.
With a very sharp razor blade, cut off two segments of the cylinder. One for the ants head and one for its abdomen.
Poke a hole through the center of each segment with a piece of wire or a fine needle.
Thread one of the segments onto a piece of tippet. 2X to 4X works well depending on the size of the ant. Then burn one end of the tippet and form a small ball on the end.
Pull the tippet back through the segment with enough pressure to pull the ball into but not through the segment.
Thread the second segment onto the tippet.
Cut off the excess and burn a second ball onto that end of the tippet.
Pull the tippet back through the segment with enough pressure to pull the ball into but not through the segment.
Completed body, ready to paint.
Apply paint to the segments in the proper color to match the ant you are imitating. In this case black.
Put a hook in the vise and start some thread on the shank, again in the proper color to match the ant you are imitating.
Tie the balsa wood ant body you created onto the top of the hook shank.
Tie in a hackle in the proper color to match the ant you are imitating.
Wind the hackle in between the body segments
Tie it off, trim the excess hackle and whip finish.
Finished product.
One in red.