The Beetle Bug
By Tom Chandler on May 20, 2006 in Fishing Report, Flies, Upper Sacramento
Work wrapped its sticky fingers around me yesterday afternoon and kept me away from the misleadingly named “Longshot Lake” (though with rain falling all afternoon, all evening, and most of the morning it’s not clear I missed a lot).
The river itself spiked over 8,000 cfs – an astonishing number for this time of year. As the river flows remain at largely unfishable levels, boredom creeps in and drives us to do things we might not normally do. Wayne proved this theory true by fishing the raging Upper Sac for an hour yesterday, actually landing a fish and losing two others.
Others engage in even more desperate behavior, like whipping up a Beetle Bug and photographing it (first fly photo ever) so his readers will know what the hell he’s talking about all the time. I get a couple e-mails every time I mention the oddly mis-named Beetle Bug, and while it’s hardly a magic fly, it is a very effective attractor pattern that’s fast fast fast to tie. This is my rough water parachute tie (I would tie a sparser pattern with a thinner body for slower water), and it’s equally effective as a Catskill tie with white hair wings.
Your basic Beetle Bug; easy, fast, and hot (which - if you think about it - is how most of us like our women)
The basic recipe is Moose body tails, bright red Hares Ear dubbing, turkey flat parachute post (white goat body hair for the Catskill), and Coachman brown hackle (though I use Cree hackle).
That’s all for today. The Lovely & Talented Nancy flies home today from a weeklong business trip, and between the bruised rib, the rampant sickness, and our end-to-end trips, I’m looking forward to actually spending some time with her. With everything running high, there’s no better time… See you, well, you won’t see me… TC.
rriver | May 24, 2006 | Reply
Interesting Beetle bug. I’ve never tied it as a parachute myself, but almost all dries really seem to sit better as such. I fish emergers so much I only pull the Beetle Bug out to fish undercut banks or under trees.
TC | May 24, 2006 | Reply
I do like parachutes as a matter of course (plus they’re so damned easy to tie). I think they’re probably more emerger than dry fly (hatched bugs tend to hold their bodies off the water), but in rough water the Catskill style seems to hold up a little better.