Pat’s Rubberlegs 01/10/2025 Photo Album

Pat’s rubber legs has become a fairly recent essential addition to my stable of flies. My post of 12/29/2023 contains a link to a post from an outing on the Arkansas River, where the rubber legs nymph convinced me of its permanent place in my fleece wallet.

Dangling Legs

This is a fly that, in my opinion, truly lives up to the name ugly. It strikes me as a mish mash of materials that were lashed on to a hook by a very young beginner fly tier. Do not judge Pat’s rubber legs by viewing it, when it is dry. When I strip it in along the river to inspect it for aquatic junk, it is obvious why the trout go for it. The chenille takes on a translucent appearance with soft undulating fibers, and the long dangling legs flop along in an enticing manner. It looks like a tasty morsel that is easy prey for the fish.

A Different Angle

Although this fly is fairly simple in terms of materials required, it can be a bit tricky to tie, and the complicating culprits are the six dangling rubber legs. Up until this year I followed tying instructions from Tim Flagler on tightlinevideo on YouTube. As I prepared for my new tying session on 01/10/2025, I decided to refresh my memory, since the video outlined a series of steps involving UV Resin to bind the legs to the hook shank before wrapping the chenillie. When I completed my search on YouTube, I noticed a newer Pat’s rubber legs video from Flagler that was eight months old. I viewed this revision to method, and it struck me as much more straightforward, so I utilized it to tie three additional rubber legs in the green/black color. I was quite pleased with the new method, and it avoids dealing with UV resin and an awkward leg wrapping maneuver.

Three New Rubber Legs

The three new size 10 Pat’s rubberl egs increases my inventory to adequate levels of black/green, coffee/black and yellow/green. I am ready to dredge stoneflies in the early season and beyond.