Let's see your sow bugs

[jwatts]

My young son is getting into fly tying and we are getting ready to tie up some sow bugs. Just wondering how everyone else is tying theres.

 

[Dave_W]

Probably the easiest way to tie a reliable sowbug is to build a thread base on the shank, crush it flat with pliers, then wrap it with gray dubbing. Pick the dubbing out and trim it flat on top and bottom to create the flat profile the naturals have.

I tend to like mine pretty heavily weighted as these critters don't swim and drift low in the water column.

 

[falcon]

why don't you tie the lead wire along the hook shank to make the profile wider then wrap with thread

 

[Dave_W]

falcon wrote:
why don't you tie the lead wire along the hook shank to make the profile wider then wrap with thread

Yes - this is actually how I do it - works well. ^

 

[nfrechet]

ray charles

 

[afishinado]

Dave_W wrote:
Probably the easiest way to tie a reliable sowbug is to build a thread base on the shank, crush it flat with pliers, then wrap it with gray dubbing. Pick the dubbing out and trim it flat on top and bottom to create the flat profile the naturals have.

I tend to like mine pretty heavily weighted as these critters don't swim and drift low in the water column.

DaveW gives a great easy an effective way to tie sowbugs/cress bugs.

Here is a video from Flyfishers Paradise showing how it's done >

 

[MKern]

I either tie lead on the sides of the shank or wrap it and then smash it flat with needle nose pliers.

Dub and rib. Then pick out the dubbing on the sides and trim the stragglers.

 

[sandfly]

one kind

 

[sandfly]

this

 

[tomgamber]

i do mine similarly to the video above but i add a strip of plastic baggie as the shell and then wrap the thread back over it for segmentation.

 

[troutbert]

A Walts Worm makes a good sowbug imitation.

Just Hare's Ear dubbing on a hook, tied nice and buggy.

 

[jwatts]

Great video, thank you. I did just that, but I ran a pc. Of black thread along the back then just hit the back shell with uv resin. It looks amazing but let's see if it will catch some fish. Lol

 

[elonDO]

I’m a fan of Joe Humphrey’s cress bug - George Daniels Living on the Fly blog - Hump’s Cress Bug

 

[jwatts]

Excellent, thanks for the video. My son and I got to meet joe in Lancaster last week. My little guy was also amazed at his documentary so he was stoked when he got to meet him.

 

[just_jon]

I tie the Shenk version with a tread loop and olive sculpin wool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pewyaKBLklc

 

[JeffK]

I like the Shenk version as well. I use a little lead to keep it down, but since I fish it in slower runs too much lead can be a problem for me.

For years I used a gray Honey Bug for cress bugs, but ran out of the material and never reordered it. Tying in the round is argued to be better than tying flat some times.

 

[marcq]

I do well on this on Cumberland valley limestone streams. It’s nice and heavy so you don’t need split shots.

https://youtu.be/SdREMMGXVKY

 

[LongLineRelease]

I tie a woven cress bug from gray micro vernille and micro gray polar chenille. For some reason I can’t for the life of me get an in focus pic to share.