Fly Tying Tutorial : CDC Black Baetis Nymph

This fly was developed to have a more natural appearance, as it’s full of natural colors and no hot spots. This fly fishes well, due to a natural appearance, thin profile, a bit of flash in the ice dub and great movement of the CDC. A 3.8mm slotted Tungsten bead will make sure this fly gets down to the feeding depth. Fish this as a point fly with a brighter, attractor pattern on the dropper on a euronymph rig or indicator set-up and you’ll be sure to have success. These can be tied in other sizes, and feel free to mix up colors of the quill body wrap, dubbing and CDC to fit your local waters.

Materials:

  • Hook – Barbless Size 12 Jig Hook
  • Bead – Hareline Dubbin Slotted Silver Tungsten size 3.8mm
  • Thread – Veevus 10/0 Black
  • Tail – Cock De Leon
  • Body – Hareline Dubbin Synthetic Quill Body Wrap
  • Thorax – Hareline Dubbin Black Ice Dub
  • Legs – Black CDC Feather, Stripped on one side

Step 1: Put slotted bead on hook, slot to face rear of fly. Secure hook in vice.

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Step 2: Wrap thread onto hook. I prefer to not work the thread all the way down and back. I believe this adds unnecessary thickness and hinders the sink rate.

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Step 3: Tie in a clump of CDC feathers. Length should be roughly the length of the shank. Wrap thread back with about 1/4 of the shank remaining.

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Step 4: With remaining ¼ shank, tie in the Synthetic Quill body wrap.

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Step 5: Wrap the quill forward in touching turns. To make the fly more durable, coating the quill with hard as hull or Loon Flow UV epoxy is recommended.

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Step 6: Dub on some black ice dub to form a thorax.

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Step 7: Strip feathers off one side of the CDC feather and tie in, in front of the thorax.

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Step 8: Wrap the CDC feather around the shank, pulling the feathers back as you turn the feathers.

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Step 9: Add a bit more dubbing in front of the feather.

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Step 10: Perform a 4-turn whip finish. Add a spot of head cement to lock in the whip finish.

Finished hand-tied fly