Paintbrush Black Foam Beetle
I became involved with Family Tyes when my son
Eddie, my father and I took the beginner fly
tying class. That was six years ago and since
then we have taken other fly tying classes
offered, built several fly rods through the rod
building class and have gone on numerous fishing
trips with the group. I have cherished the times
that I shared with them. My son who was eight at
the time when we became involved has now become
one of the student mentors. He learned many of
his fishing and fly tying skills from the other
student mentors. There was many a trip where the
student mentors would tell Eddie, “You’re
fishing with me today.” He would come back at
the end of the day and share with me what he had
learned from them. They live the Family Tyes
motto: “Pass it on.”
The black foam beetle is a pattern that I
learned while helping Family Tyes at an outing
at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. We were
assigned the task of teaching a large group of
local Boy Scouts how to tie a fly. Dave Thorn,
an adult mentor of Family Tyes, was the
instructor for each group of scouts that came
through during the course of the day. In
addition to Dave, we had several student and
adult mentors to assist him. Most of the scouts
that we saw had never tied a fly before, so the
pattern needed to be simple and quick to tie.
That is one of the main reasons why I like this
fly. That, and it catches fish!
#Hook: TMC 100
Hook size: 14-18
Thread: Black
Legs: Three paintbrush bristles
Body: 1/8” black foam strip
1. Start by putting a thread base on the
hook starting at the eye. Work back to the bend
of the hook and tie in the paintbrush bristles
at the mid-point of the hook.
2. Continue wrapping the thread back to
just before the bend of the hook.
3. Trim the corners of the foam so that
it almost comes to a point. This will make it
easier to tie the foam to the hook. Tie in the
strip of black foam, wrapping tightly back to
the bend of the hook.
4. Wrap the thread forward about 3/4 of
the way up the hook shank.
5. Fold the foam over the hook and tie
down. Trim the foam to form the head of the
beetle.
6. Lift the head and wrap behind the eye,
then half-hitch or whip finish.
7. Trim thread and cut the paintbrush
legs to size. You can also crush the legs to
give them a more lifelike bend.
8. As an option, either put a drop of
orange paint on the body or tie in some white z-lon.
This will help you see the fly when it is on the
water.
This fly, along with any other terrestrial,
can be very effective during the late spring and
summer months. Any part of a stream that has an
overhanging bush or tree limb is the place to
float this fly. Even in the middle of a hot and
sunny afternoon trout will position themselves
under this type of structure and wait for a
breeze to blow a bug into the water for an easy
meal. I think you will find this fly easy to tie
and very effective to fish!
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Coming To a TU Chapter Near You
Two blockbuster presentations are scheduled for
PWWTU’s February and March general meetings.
Critics give both of them an enthusiastic two
thumbs up.
If you’ve ever flirted with the idea of building
your own fly rod but never got around to doing
it, be on hand at our February 13 meeting when
Family Tyes will do a seminar on rod building.
They’ll start with the basics – selecting a
blank, finding the spine, placing and mounting
line guides, reel seat options – and take you
step by step to creating a handsome rod you can
proudly brag that you made it all by yourself.
Then at the March 13 meeting, Rod Rohrbach from
the Little Lehigh Fly Shop, will give a program
on “Spring Creek Techniques for Wild Trout.” Rod
will take us on a tour of the Little Lehigh from
its origin in the farmlands and meadows of Berks
County through the Allentown Parks system to its
confluence with the Lehigh River. Along the way,
he will discuss presentation, fly design, Tricos
and midge fishing.
Incidentally, in addition to the Family Tyes
how-to rod building seminar, as a service to
PWWTU’s members and in the spirit of being
helpful, our stalwart Program Committee is
working on two more how-to presentations for
future meetings. The first is titled “How To
Machine a Fly Reel From Solid Bar Stock Aircraft
Grade Aluminum. It’s Easy and Fun!” Equally as
exciting, the subject of the second seminar is
“Make Your Own Tapered Fly Lines and Leaders. A
Money-Saving, Do-It-Yourself Weekend Project.”
Congratulations to our hard working, ever
vigilant Program Committee that is always on the
lookout for informative and entertaining meeting
seminars. You guys are doing good.
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Trout Unlimited Basic Fly Tying Classes
The Penn’s Woods West Chapter of Trout Unlimited
will sponsor two 10-week basic fly tying classes
beginning at 7 PM on Thursday, January 19. One
class will be held at the Crescent City
Municipal Building in the airport area. The
other in Pittsburgh’s North area at The Doorway,
10 California Avenue in Avalon. Cost is $45.
Students are required to provide their own vise,
tools and thread, all other tying materials
needed for the course are supplied by Penn’s
Woods West. The classes are open to non-TU
members. To register or for more information on
the Crescent Township class, call Dick at
724-457-7632 and for the Avalon class, call Dave
at 412-364-2412.
