Hot Head Spring Thing Rubberlegs

I finally made it down to the Lower Yuba after it seems like a month and a half. Probably more like a month. The river has finally settled down, and even though it still running over 4,000 cfs the clarity has improved a bunch. Last spring we started fishing the river again once it reached 3500 cfs. I just couldn't wait!

I had tied up a rubber leg stone fly, using a Spirit River "Hot Bead", lots of lead, Montana Fly Company Yellow Speckled Centipede Legs and Jay Fair's "Peacock" short shuck chenille. This is a variation of a fly used on the Klamath River by Craig Neilson. The Lower Yuba trout have a distinct fondness for eggs and I like just about any fly with peacock herl, so I came up with the "Hot Head Spring Thing".

Blake Larsen and I fished the river on tax day, April 15th, and gave the pattern a thorough run. Now I'm not sure if the fish were just hungry and aggressive, but it worked pretty darn well. I'll give it another go next week.

Recipe:

Hook: TMC 200R 3x long
Thread: Black 6/0
Lead: .025 Round Wire Lead Free
Rubberlegs: Montana Fly Company "Speckled Centipede Legs" Yellow
Chenille: Jay Fair's Short Shuck "Peacock"

Brown/Gold Rubberlegs

The other fly that worked equally as well was a rubberlegs tied with a brown/gold chenille. This one was tied with Montana Fly Companies Brown, "Speckled Centipede Legs". This fly worked really well in the morning before the sun got brighter.