How to Tie Dornan’s Water Walker

I was first introduced to Will Dornan’s Water Walker several years ago while fishing with longtime friend Tim Linehan on the Kootenai river near Libby Montana. Tim and his guides use it both solo and in hopper-dropper rigs. Chubby Chernobyls work just fine for imitating many of the terrestrials that are abundant during the summer months but, Water Walkers seem to produce better when trout begin keying on large nocturnal stoneflies. Sometimes just a little bit of movement will induce a take.

Water Walkers can be tied in a variety of colors, with my favorite being red and black. Here we’re going to tie a more natural-looking one in tan, brown and gold that also works exceptionally well.

The fly starts with a Lightning Strike SN3 streamer hook in size 10. With a long-shanked hook like this, it’s rather important that it be well secured in the jaws of your tying vise.

For thread, it’s good idea to go a little heavy to help compress the foam body – here UTC 140 in a nice hopper yellow color. Get the thread started on the hook shank leaving a full eye-length space behind the back edge of the hook eye. After taking several wraps rearward, snip off the excess tag. Continue taking wraps down the hook shank, all the way to the start of the bend, then forward until your tying thread hangs just in front of the hook point.

Golden brown Ice dub is used for the underside of the fly. Pluck an ample clump free from the packet. Pull down on your bobbin to expose about 4” of tying thread, then use the dubbing to create a slender 3” long noodle on the thread. Begin taking wraps with the noodle so the dubbing begins right at the start of the hook bend. Then, build up a short segment with it, ending with bare thread hanging in the middle of that segment, right at about the hook point.

2 millimeter craft foam in tan is used to create the body of the fly. You can cut it into strips, a little more than a hook gap in width, but I’ve found that cutters like these from River Road Creations produce cleaner looking bodies. Again, you want the strip to be just a bit wider than the hook gap, the same as this size cutter makes. River Road Creations makes a unique press that can be used with the cutters. Although it’s a little pricey, it greatly extends the life of the cutters, and if you plan on producing many foam bodies, it’s a worthwhile investment.

A drop of superglue, here Fly Tyer’s Z-Ment, applied to the dubbing above your tying thread, really helps when it comes to securing the foam body. Measure so the rounded end of the foam body extends approximately a hook gap length behind the rear edge of the hook bend. Take a nice slow firm wrap of tying thread to compress the foam and set the superglue. Follow this with a second wrap over top of the foam then pull the forward-pointing portion of the foam back and take two wraps around just the hook shank. Follow these with two more wraps over top of the foam. This sequence really helps to stop the foam from rotating on the hook shank.

Go back to the dubbing packet and, once again, use it to create a 3” long noodle on your tying thread. Take touching wraps forward with the noodle then back to build up what will be the underside of the fly. End with bare tying thread about halfway between the last tie-down point and the back edge of the hook eye.

Now, anchor the foam to the hook shank using the same procedure as before, ending with your thread immediately in front of the tie-down point. Create a shorter dubbing noodle on your tying thread to fill in the remainder of the hook shank, up to the eye. Here too, use the same tie-down procedure as before. The fly should now look something like this.

Relocate your tying thread rearward by crossing it diagonally over top of the forward foam segment. Now’s a good time to trim the front lip of the fly to length. It should be about as long as the segment behind it. I like to relieve the angled corners for a more natural appearance. This is how the finished body should look.

Size medium, barred round rubber legs in mud brown and black are used to create all the legs of the fly. Peel off two strands, while keeping them fused together, then snip them off to their full length. Using double overhand knots, create joints about an inch back from either end. Fold the material in half by aligning the joints then snip the midpoint of the formed loop. The resultant legs should look something like this.

Pick up one of the segments and, if it has a shorter end, separate that rubber leg material. Do the same on the second leg. With the separated strands pointing rearward, begin securing the material to the far side of the fly to form a natural-looking rear leg. Now repeat the tie-in procedure for the leg on the near side of the fly. Do a forward crossover wrap, over top of the foam, to relocate your tying thread to the forward tie-down location. Stretch the rubber leg material on both sides forward and anchor them there as well. You want it to look something like this.

On the hind legs, you want to keep the most downward-pointing segment and snip the other off close to the joint. Do this on both sides of the fly. You can then trim the hind legs to length and snip the excess front portion off close.

Repeat the same leg creation procedure as you did before, this time to produce the front legs. Anchor them on either side of the fly at the forward tie-down location, with the split part of the legs pointing forward. Once they’re well-secured, snip off the excess rearward-pointing portion. Then, trim the forelegs like so.

Apply ample drops of head cement, here Sally Hansen Hard as Nails, to the front two tie-down locations. Once the adhesive sinks in and dries, it will help to keep the rubber legs oriented correctly.

.5 millimeter white translucent Razor foam is used to form the wings of the fly. Produce two wings using the same cutter as before or cut them out by hand. With the wings sandwiched together, measure so they extend just past the end of the body. Mark that location then flip them around so the tips point forward.

Anchor the wings at the front tie-down point, and temporarily fold them back to make sure the measurement is correct, then take another wrap or two to further lock them down. Trim the excess rearward-pointing portion of the foam off nice and close.

Fold the midpoint of a single length of rubber leg material around your tying thread. Using cross wraps, secure it to the top of the fly between the hind and fore legs. End with your tying thread at the middle tie-down point. I like to apply a drop of head cement so the newly tied-in legs can’t be pulled side to side.

Root beer colored Krystal flash is used to form the underwing of the fly, 15-20 strands is all you really need. Secure one end of the strands on top of the fly and trim them off just proud of the rear edge of the body. They should pop up just a little bit, like so. A drop of superglue will definitely help to stop them from puling out.

Now, take the two foam wings and fold them rearward, then bind them down so the fly now looks something like this. You can then trim the middle rubber legs off to length.

A small piece of 1 or .5 millimeter yellow Razor foam is used to form a contrasting indicator on the fly. Anchor it at the middle tie-down point and snip the excess off close. This doesn’t have to be too fancy.

I like to use a large whip finish tool to do a 5 or 6 turn whip finish, right there at the middle tie-down point as opposed to advancing my thread forward to behind the hook eye.

For increased durability, a drop of cement added to all the exposed thread wraps on the underside and sides of the fly really goes a long way.

And that’s the Water Walker, a little complicated and time consuming – yes, but the rewards are absolutely worth the effort.