This fly is a color variation of Larry Kingrey’s Ice series of flies that he tied for the Arkansas River. My friend found that rootbeer colored krystal flash has some interesting color effects when its wrapped around a hook. It can give off a variety of colors depending on how the light hits it. The three prominent colors that you will see is green, copper and pearl. This has been an outstanding Baetis imitation on a number of rivers and streams on the West and Midwest.
Step 1 - Place the bead on the hook and lay down a layer of brown thread to the bend of the hook.
Step 2 - Tie in a small clump of wood duck-colored mallard flank for the tail. The tail should be a hook gap in length.
Step 3 - Tie in a piece of small copper wire and pin it down to the bend of the hook. You will use this later for the rib.
Step 4 - Tie in two to three strands of the Rootbeer Krystal flash and pin down to the bend of the hook. Wrap the flash up to the bead covering the entire body of the fly.
Step 5 - Wrap the wire up to the bead with spacing to form the rib and break off the excess. You can leave the wire out of this pattern as it blends in with the body color, but I use it for durability.
Step 6 - Coat the body with UV glue and cure with UV light. This adds durability to the body and some depth to the color.
Step 7 - Tie in 1 strand of medium pearl tinsel at the bead and pin down about 1/3 of the hook shank, towards the back of the hook.
Step 8 - Dub a thorax of the UV tan ice dub and pull the tinsel over the top to make a flashback wingcase.
Step 9 - Take a small light brown hen feather and strip all the fluff off the bottom (widest) part of the feather. Carefully cut out the tip of the feather to form a V shape. Place the V part of the feather facing towards the back of the hook and tie in so the two sides of the V are on each side of the hook. This forms the legs of the fly and should not be longer than a hook gap. Trim the excess feather/stem, so all that is left are the legs. Whip finish and trim off the thread.
Step 10 - Create a small shell back on the top of the thorax by putting a dab of UV glue on top of the wing case and cure with UV light.
