🔥 Welcome back to Tying Tuesday, you fly-tying junkies! 🔥
This week, we’ve got the one and only Mr. Copland in the studio — our favorite up-and-comer at the vise — and he’s serving up straight fire with one of the baddest foam-bodied dries in the game: Amy’s Ant.
This fly doesn’t just catch fish — it demands attention. Whether you’re throwing it solo or rigging it in a dry-dropper setup, this foam-crafted gangster rides high, smacks water like a boss, and gets hammered by trout all spring and summer long.
💥 Big profile. 💥 Big blow-ups. 💥 Big results.
You know you need more in the box. You know you need every size dialed and ready.
So what are you waiting for?
🔥 LET’S GO! 🔥
Recipe:
- Hook: TMC 100 SP-BL, Size 10
- Thread: UTC Ultra Thread, 140D, Olive
- Glue: Zap A Gap
- Body: Fulling Mill Bug Foam, 2mm, Tan
- Body: Fulling Mill Bug Foam, 2mm, Brown
- Legs: Hareline Rubber Legs Barred White
- Hackle: MFC Barred Saddle Hackle, Yellow/Black
- Dubbing: Hareline Ice Dub, Peacock
- Wing: Hareline Krystal Flash, Rootbeer
- Wing: Wapsi elk Hair
The Amy’s Ant is considered a near-perfect attractor pattern by many fly anglers—and for good reason. Here’s a breakdown of why the Amy’s Ant excels on the water, especially in summer and early fall:
🐜 Why the Amy’s Ant is So Perfect
1. Versatility Across Species and Waters
- Originally designed as a terrestrial, the Amy’s Ant imitates multiple insects—beetles, hoppers, ants, and even stoneflies.
- It’s effective in both freestone rivers and tailwaters, and catches everything from cutthroat and browns to rainbows and brookies.
2. Big, Buoyant, and Visible
- Constructed with foam and elk hair, the fly floats like a cork even in choppy water.
- It supports heavy droppers for dry-dropper rigs, making it ideal for probing deeper pools or adding a subsurface emerger/nymph.
- The foam and rubber legs also provide excellent visibility, helping anglers track the fly on long drifts.
3. Built to Trigger
- The exaggerated rubber legs kick and bounce, creating movement and silhouette that trigger aggressive strikes.
- Fish often respond to the profile and disturbance rather than matching a specific hatch—making it an ideal searching pattern when little else is happening.
4. High Confidence Fly
- It’s a “guide fly” for a reason—fast to tie, rugged, and effective.
- On slower days or when prospecting new water, it gives anglers a huge confidence boost.
- It consistently produces during hopper season, ant falls, and warm afternoons when terrestrials are active.
5. Seasonal Sweet Spot
- From mid-summer through early fall, terrestrials dominate a trout’s diet. Amy’s Ant is a perfect representation of what’s falling off banks and overhanging vegetation.
🧵 Popular Colors and Sizes
- Colors: Black, tan, red, purple, and olive.
- Sizes: 10–14 are the most commonly used, with 12 being the sweet spot for most trout rivers.
In short, Amy’s Ant combines realism, buoyancy, visibility, and versatility in a way that few flies do. Whether you’re fishing high-country creeks or bigger western rivers, it earns its place in the box every season.
Check out some of our favorite Fly Tying Gear:
- Vise – Dynaking Barracuda Deluxe Pedestal Vise
- Scissors – Kopter ABSOLUTE Blade Micro Serrated Edge Thin Point
- Bodkin – Dr. Slick Jumbo Carbon Fiber Bodkin
- Whip Finisher – Tiemco Midge Whip Finisher
- Tool Kit – Umpqua Dream Stream Plus 7 Piece Fly Tying Tool Kit
