The pattern notebook · terrestrial
Lucky B
How do you tie a Lucky B?
Lucky B is a terrestrial fly pattern for trout. Find its 11 materials and 40 tying steps below.
- Difficulty
- 4 of 5
- Target species
- trout
- Pattern designer
- Charlie Craven
Added to catalog · Updated
At the vise
Materials
- Hook: Tiemco 2487 #16
- Thread: UNI 8/0 Yellow
- Butt: McFlylon Yellow
- Butt: 3mm Foam Yellow
- Connector: 0X Tippet
- Legs: MFC Sexi-Legs Barred Amber Small
- Body: 3mm Foam Yellow
- Thorax: Superfine Dubbing Black
- Wing: Poly Pro Macrame Yarn Yellow Tan Rust Grey Black
- Super Glue
- Black Copic Marker
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Tying instructions
Pinch a sewing needle in your vise with the pointy end exposed.
Start yellow thread with a short jam knot, leaving a long tag end.
Drape the tag end back over the vise into your material spring.
Tie in a few strands of yellow McFlylon on top of the jam knot, wrapping the tag end with it.
Wrap the thread back about 8-9mm, then forward back to the tie-in point, and trim the forward end of the McFlylon.
Leave the yarn hanging out the back.
Tie in a 1mm wide strip of yellow 3mm foam at the tie-in point.
Wrap the foam back to the end of the thread start, using open wraps.
Tie in a couple inches of 0X tippet material at the front edge of the body.
Wrap the thread back over the tippet about halfway.
Loop the thread around and catch it one more time.
Wrap forward over both strands of tippet to the end of the body.
Apply a light coat of super glue all the way around the thread wraps.
Smear the glue around with a scrap of foam.
Wrap the foam forward, compressing it tightly and overlapping the turns, to just short of where you started the thread.
Tie off the foam with 3-4 turns of thread right on top of where you started it.
Trim the excess foam.
Whip finish and trim the thread.
Grab the body and twist it, then pull it off of the needle.
Pull on the tag end of the thread to tighten the jam knot and pull the slack out of it.
Trim the tag end and the yarn.
Pinch the abdomen between your fingertips to arch it up a little.
Secure a Tiemco 2487 #16 hook in the vise.
Start the yellow thread just behind the hook eye and wrap back to just in front of the barb.
Attach the extended body by tying in the mono on top of the hook and wrapping forward over it.
Leave a little space between the abdomen and the hook.
Kink the abdomen forward a little to elevate it.
Trim the mono close.
Tie in the barred amber small Sexi-Legs at the center of their length.
Pull one half back to the far side and wrap up to the base of the mono.
Pull the near side back and catch it in place.
Position the legs to be just under where the wings will sit.
Add a little black superfine dubbing to build a ball.
Tie in the wing material (yellow, tan, rust, grey, black poly pro macrame yarn) with the loop angled from near to far.
Trim the butt ends of the wing material.
Pull the foam up between the wings, dividing the legs back so they are out of the way.
Tie the foam down just behind the hook eye.
Draw triangles down the back of the foam body with a black marker.
Draw a line down each side of the head.
Dot the eye on either side of the head with the black marker.