Arkansas Rubber Legs – 01/16/2022 Photo Album

I last tied the Arkansas rubber leg nymph in 2013, and you can check out the post that I made at that time by clicking on 01/17/2013. This report also describes how I became acquainted with this stonefly imitation.

In the intervening years I lost sight of the Arkansas rubber legs, until last spring, when I pulled one out of my fleece wallet and knotted it to my line on a trip to the Arkansas River on 03/09/2021. The large weighted fly with rubber legs accounted for two nice brown trout, and I made a mental note to check my supply and resurrect its presence in my fly supply.

Angled Left Side

Apparently stoneflies go through a molting process in February and March, and the trout view the light-colored and soft-bodied insects as delicacies. This explains my surprising success on my early March trip. I am not certain why I abandoned the rubber legs for such a long time.

There are numerous videos for tying Pat’s rubber legs nymphs, and any will work fine for manufacturing a bunch for your fly box. Simply substitute an orange/yellow/light green chenille and also use rubber legs with a similar olive and yellow sheen. I particularly like the tying video by Tim Flagler at tightlinevideo. In this demonstration Tim shows how to form the antennae, tail and legs by using UV resin, and I feel this really simplifies the task of making the legs and weaving the chenille through the dangling appendages.

Three New Rubber Legs With Materials

When I counted my inventory of Arkansas rubber legs, I discovered that I had nine in my possession. I sat down at my vise and produced an additional three with conehead beads plus one that is weighted with wire but does not feature a bead. It will not be long before the stoneflies on the Arkansas River molt, and hopefully my Arkansas rubber legs will allow me to fool a few.