For me thinking about what I was going to use to tie a fly to imitate the cased caddis was fairly daunting. A bug that covers itself in natural materials like rocks and sticks from the bottom of the river creating a natural camo seemed very difficult to imitate most of the time using dubbing. That is until I was turned on to this pattern. The look created by burning the root beer cactus chenille is perfect! You can burn the material slightly more or less to get some different colors/shades to match your specific river bottom. This is a great point fly when nymph fishing.
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Chernobyl Ant Recipe:
1) Hook – Firehole 633
2) Thread – Veevus 12/0 Black
3) Bead – Cyclops Bead Eye Black
4) Weight – .015 Lead Wire
5) Body – Cactus Chenille Medium Root Beer
6) Thorax / Exposed Body – Hareline Dubbin Insect Green
7) Legs – Pheasant Tail Fibers Brown
Tools used to create this fly:
1) Vise – Griffin Montana Mongoose
2) Scissors – Dr. Slick Razors Scissors
3) Bobbin – Griffin Standard Bobbin
4) Lighter – Bic
5) Whip Finish – Dr. Slick Brass Whip Finish
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