Guide Series: Pat’s Rubber Legs

Producer: tightlinevideo

As a guide, I’m often crunched for time and quickly need to tie flies for an upcoming trip. They not only need to be effective, but relatively cheap and easy to tie. Here’s my guide-style Pat’s Rubber Legs.

The fly starts with a Dai-Riki #285 size 12 nymph hook but anything similar will do. Here, I’ve already mashed the barb and added an 1/8” black nickel tungsten bead, just a regular one, not slotted.

I’ll then, with the spool in hand, add 8 wraps of .02 lead-free round wire to the hook shank, then helicopter to break it off close.

Next, I’ll place a small drop of superglue on the hook shank, between the bead and the wire, then slide the wraps forward into the back of the bead. Make sure to hold the wire there for a couple of seconds while the adhesive sets. Adding the wire in this manner means there’s no waste at all, and you can tuck in that nasty little tail without a whole lot of hassle.

For thread, UTC 70 Denier in black is a really good choice. After getting it established on the hook shank, I’ll run up and down the wire wraps to further lock them in place, then end with the thread at the rear of the wraps and snip the excess tag off close.

Size small black round rubber leg material is used for all the legs of the fly. I like to have three 3” long individual strands ready to go. Fold one of the strands in half and begin anchoring it to the top of the hook shank with tight wraps of tying thread. Pulling up and slightly toward you will help to keep the material centered on top of the shank. When your tying thread is above what was the hook barb, return your thread forward to behind the wire wraps. You can then pull up on the little loop and snip it off close.

Get hold of an ample length of coffee and black variegated chenille, enough to make multiple flies. Strip one end to the core and begin securing it to the shank behind the wire wraps. Allow the material to be pushed to the far side of the hook as you wrap rearward, ending at the base of the tails. Then return your tying thread forward to the wire wraps. Make touching wraps forward with the chenille up to your tying thread and secure it with 3 or 4 wraps. Although not critical, I like to trim the sides of the body so they taper just a little down to the tails.

Pull the chenille back, relocate your tying thread to immediately behind the bead, lay the midpoint of two strands of rubber leg material against the near side of the hook and, using 2 or 3 thread wraps, anchor them to the shank all the way back to the chenille. Separate the material to either side of the hook then continue taking forward wraps with the chenille. Here, I find it helpful to wrap behind my tying thread. The chenille should push the rear legs back and the front legs forward. Anchor the chenille to the hook shank immediately behind the front legs then snip the excess off close on the bottom of the fly. Sweep the forward-pointing legs back and take a few thread wraps behind the bead. You can then get hold of your whip finish tool, do a 5 or 6 turn whip finish, seat the knot well and snip or cut your tying thread free.

Give the legs a final, little orientation and then, if you want, trim both the back and bottom of the fly so they taper to the rear. I like to use needle-nosed pliers to scrunch down the wire wraps beneath the chenille to flatten the body of the fly just a bit. The most fiddly part of this pattern involves pulling all the legs and tails up at once, without stretching them too much, like so. I’ll then trim them all off even with my thumb, which rests on top of the fly. This usually results in fairly even, appropriate-length legs and tails. A drop of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails added to the thread wraps behind the bead, and allowed to sink in and dry, is critical in terms of durability.

Give the flies at least a half hour to thoroughly dry and they’re ready to fish. You can’t beat a Pat’s Rubber Legs and this is about the quickest and easiest version I’ve found.