TYING A FOAM STONEFLY

The Foam Stone Fly can be tied in multiple color variants, depending on where you fish. Anything from olive to brown or black will do great, and with an orange and brown variant, the fly can imitate a salmon fly. You should also consider the hook size and adjust this to the size of the stoneflies you want to imitate.

• Materials
• Video Instructions
• Slideshow
• How to Fish the Foam Stone Fly

Materials for Foam Stone Fly

Part:	Materials:	Size/Color:
Hook:	Daiichi	1730 #12
Thread:	Veevus	Black 14/0
Tail:	Goose Biots	Black
Body:	Foam	Tan 1 mm/Black 1 mm
Antennas:	Goose Biots	Black
Wing:	CDC	Khaki Campbell
Thorax:	Antron Dubbing	Golden Stone
Hackle:	Dry Fly Hackle	Grizzly
Head:	Foam	Black 1 mm

Video Instructions on How to Tie a Foam Stone Fly

Slideshow on How To Tie a Foam Stone Fly

Step 1 – Make the Tail and the Foam Body

Start tying in your thread close to the curve of the hook and build up an even tread base until you reach the hook’s bend. Also, build up a small thread ball. The thread ball will help spread the tail fibers. Take two black goose biots and tie them in, curving away from the hook. The tail’s length should be approximately half of the hook.

Prepare the foam. Cut off two lengths with a width of 3 to 4 mm, one black for the upper side and one tan for the underside of the body. Tie them in one at a time. Take your tying thread 2 to 3 mm forward, fold the tan foam forward and make one wrap to secure it. Continue with folding the black foam and tie it down. For a hook this size, you should be able to get 3 to 5 body segments. The last segment should be after the hook’s curve, and you should leave 1/3 of the hook for the thorax area.

Tie off and remove the excess tan foam used for the underside of the body. We will need the black foram for the head, so leave this.

Step 2 – Make the Head/Thorax

Move your tying thread to the hook’s eye and tie in one goose biot on each side. The goose biots should be tied in, curving away from the hook. The length of the antennas should be 1/3 longer than the tail. Fold the black foam over the thorax area and tie it down facing forward over the hook’s eye.

Tie in one grizzly dry fly hackle facing forward and the shiny side towards you. Tie in one large CDC feather for the wing. The wing should have the same length as the hook. Move your tying thread to the front of the thorax and make a dubbing noodle with the antron dubbing.

Build up the thorax with the golden stone antron dubbing before making 2 to 4 wraps with the hackle towards the wing where you tie it off. Fold the foam backward towards the wing and tie it down before removing the excess. Complete the fly with a whip finish or a few half hitches and a drop of varnish.

How to Fish the Foam Stone Fly

It would be best if you fished stoneflies dead drift, so you would typically target rising fish with the Foam Stone Fly. You can also give it small twitches to imitate the movement of a stonefly stuck in the water film. Twitching the fly can work well if you are using it as an attractor fly. A great feature of this fly, is the foam body and the CDC wing, making it close to unsinkable.