Crystal Stone
Recipe - Crystal Stone
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View the Step by Step Instructions
- Hook
- TMC 2457 scud hook, #8 & #10
- Thread
- 8/0 black
- Tails
- Goose Biots, black
- Abdomen
- Turkey Biot, black glued
- Wing Case
- Crystal Flash or Krystal Hair, black/pearl
- Thorax/Legs
- Cactus Chenille, medium. pearl
- Antenna
- Goose Biots, black
- Color
- Pantone or Prizmacolor Pens, orange or chartreuse for belly, black or dark brown for top of legs
Several years ago young Rob Wrona, then from Grand Rapids, showed me a stone fly pattern that he had been using with great success on our midwest salmon and some steelhead. The fly was a gaudy little thing mostly tied with one of my favorite natural materials; peacock. The abdomen, thorax and wing case were constructed with it.
I wanted something with a touch more realism and more durability. I was thinking more along the lines of fall steelhead than salmon. So much of the water that the salmon use for spawning is good habitat for stone flies and certainly that is why stone fly patterns are so effective for the fall steelhead. The fall chromers lay downstream of the spawning salmon and gorge themselves not only on the eggs that are washed out of the redd, but aquatic insect nymphs and larva that are washed out of the gravel as the fish construct and use the spawning site.
There are a multitude of stone fly species available to the fish throughout the year, most of which are on the smaller side when compared to the giant black stones that remind me of little dinosaurs.
I tend to tie this pattern on #8 and #10 on a heavy wire scud hook. The curve of the hook makes the fly look as though it is a natural nymph that has become dislodged and is adrift in the current. Stone fly nymphs can’t really swim a lick. They may struggle as they tumble through the water but more often than not, they just curl up a little and go with the flow. Sooner or later they bump into something which they can grip, or end up in a fishes mouth. I like the latter idea.
