{{+1}}Booby beetle – Chatto’s original{{-1}}

Boobies are a fantastic bass fly when fished on the surface but occasionally they hang so low in the water they get a bit hard for me to see. To overcome that when seeing the fly is necessary I added a back of 2mm closed cell foam - works like a dream. This is undoubtedly my favourite bass fly.

Materials

Hook	Thread	Eyes	Back	'Tail'	Body
Gamakatsu jig hook size 1 to 4	Strong cotton same as the body colour	Bean bag bead eyes	2 mm closed cell foam	Marabou	Estaz chenille

Process

A	You can use other hooks for this fly but my preference is the Gamakatsu jig hook. I like them because they are light for their size and strength and because of the physics of the hook they have great holding power. On top of that because the line is connected to the fly below the water even the smallest twitch on the line lifts the fly and then as it settles it creates circles on the water and that is a real turn on for fish. Wind the thread 1/3 of the way down the hook shank in touching turns and then wind back to the 90% position. Understanding hooks Tie in a set of bean bag bead eyes (you can use Floozy eyes but they just don't float all that well) just behind the eye of the hook. Making booby eyes form bean bag beads Either now or later paint eyes on the beads.

B	Now continue winding the thread to the bend of the hook in touching turns. Tie in a tail of marabou making sure that the tail is between a half hook shank and full hook shank in length. Resist the temptation of making the tail to heavy or too long. A light tail a little shorter than the hook shank is ideal.

C	Return the thread two thirds of the way along the hook shank. Prepare a length of closed cell foam that is as wide as the gape of the hook and about two and a half times as long as the hook and has a tapered leading edge. Closed cell foam bodies Smear a little Tarzans Grip contact cement (PVA glue if you used bean bag bead eyes as almost everything else will dissolve them) arond the first part of the closed cell foam.

D	Tie in closed cell foam very tightly at the two thirds position. At about 1/3 compression tie the closed cell foam along the hook shank in with 3 or 4 separated wraps of the thread. At the bend of the hook, just behind where the tail is tied in, tie the foam down very tightly. Not only does this form an under-body but it also attaches the foam to the shank of the hook without squeezing out all its buoyancy. Tie in a length of the estaz chenille at the bend of the hook. (You can use two contrasting Estaz chenille for the body as on option. If your doing that uses the darker chenille in the rear two thirds of the body and the lighter contrasting chenille in the front part of the body). Take the thread forward at about 1/3 compression along the under-body to just behind the booby eyes. Where possible take the thread over the earlier wraps of thread so that no extra air is squeezed out of the closed cell foam under-body.

E	Wind the body material forward to the eyes in touching turns. Tie the body material off behind the eyes but don't trim the excess. Hang the loose end of the body material over the front of the fly between the eyes. Pull the closed cell foam over the back of the fly and tie it off with firm wraps of thread just behind the eyes.

F	Trim away the excess foam. Take a single wrap of the body material over the front of the eyes, under the eyes, across the back where the closed cell foam is tied in and back in front of the eyes so that it can be tied off. Whip finish a couple of times. If you used bean bag eyes don't use any varnish as even if you don't touch the eyes with varnish the fumes from the varnish will dissolve the bean bag beads.

G	Thread the leg rubber onto a needle and push the darning needle through the estaz chenille and the under-body horizontally but on the diagonal to form the front leg on one side and the back leg on the opposite side. Legs on flies Reload the darning needle with leg rubber and repeat that process on the opposite diagonal to create the extra two legs. Trim the leg material off so that the legs are even on each side and about as long as the shank of the hook.