How to tie the Lite Collar Bug

Time Well Spent November 8, 2023

This fly is designed to sink quickly. The Lite-Brite adds subtle sparkle to an otherwise drab fly and the white bead is less likely than a gold bead to alarm fish on hard-fished waters.

Materials for the Lite Collar Bug

Hook: Size 12-16 wet-fly (barbed or barbless)
Thread: Black  Bead: White 3.2mm brass or tungsten  Weight: Fine lead wire
Tail: Dark grizzle cock hackle fibres Rib: Fine, oval gold tinsel or wire
Body: Dark hare’s fur  Hackle: Small natural grey CDC plume  Thorax: Purple Haze
Lite-Brite

Step 1. Slip a bead over the hook point then fix hook in the vice. Apply lead wire, pushing the turns into the bead’s recess, and fix with thread.

Step 2. Run the tying thread down the shank in touching turns until it reaches the bend. Catch in a few fibres of dark grizzle cock hackle.

Step 3. At the base of the hackle-fibre tail catch in a length of fine gold tinsel. Next, take a pinch of dark hare’s fur and apply it to the thread.

Step 4. Dub the fur on to the thread to form a tapered rope. Create the body by winding the fur rope along the shank in touching turns.

Step 5. Continue adding the fur along the hook, leaving a gap behind the bead. Rib the body by applying evenly spaced turns of the gold tinsel.

Step 6. Secure the loose end of the tinsel with thread then trim off the surplus. Next, take a small CDC plume and catch it in by its tip.

Step 7. Grasp the base of the CDC plume with hackle pliers and apply two turns. As each turn is made, stroke the fibres back over the body.

Step 8. Secure the base of the CDC feather then carefully trim away the waste. Dub on a pinch of Lite-Brite, and apply in front of the hackle.

Step 9. Two or three turns of Lite-Brite is enough to cover the base of the hackle and form a small thorax. Finally, cast off with a whip finish.

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