Winter Warrior SBS

[tbblom]

Winter Warrior SBS, Fall/winter 2012 nymph swap
a rainbow warrior in a dark scheme with black holo tinsel.
Originally tied for Boulder creek as a winter nymph for deeper holes. It also works for alpine brookies and the occasional tailwater fish. Kind of looks like a mayfly larva or a big midge.

hook: Umpqua 201 #18 curved
thread: Iron Grey 8/0
bead:2.0mm black brass
Abdomen/wingback: black holo tinsel medium
Segmentation: Lagartun fine blue
Thorax:UV ice dub, dark olive
tail:black rooster neck (8-10 fibers)

Bead and thread base:

Tying in the tail/trim excess:

Wire and tinsel tied in, body smoothed and formed by thread:

Tinsel wrapped forward and secured. Do not trim excess:

Wire wrapped forward and secured, add a pinch of dubbing:

Dubbing wrapped. Tinsel folded forward as a wingback:

Clip excess fibers and tinsel. Double whip finish:

 

[comeonavs]

Thanks TB,

I tried tying some of these up the other day based off just a photo. I tied it two different ways. One with UV Ice dub translucent whitish blue color and one with Ice dub peacock black.

Both look good but I didn't add the wire wrap so now I gotta go back to the vice.

Thanks tons for the pattern I cant wait to tie a few up and run it with a size 20 RS2 behind it. Should be a killer cold water set up.

 

[sur3 shot]

good fly man very effective

 

[tbblom]

Thanks guys!
The original pattern, the Rainbow Warrior, is a Lance Egan pattern. I just gave it a black color scheme with a wire wrap!
On rainbow warriors, changing thread/dubbing/tinsel/wire color vastly changes the appearance of the fly. Chartreuse thread makes a nice bright green hue, with black it looks kind of turquoise, rust orange is also pretty cool.
Some variants:

 

[flybum101]

cool looking flies been doing something very close experimenting with different dubbings for thorax

 

[eastfly66]

I would like to give this a try for my tail water out East here , I don't think the bows have seen this and they get hammered pretty hard since it is the only show in town this time of yr. Do you think I could do it on a #20 ?

 

[comeonavs]

I tie these and it's sister pattern the rainbow warrior regularly down to a size 22 , so yes you should. I find in the winter most everything I fish is a 20 or 22, sometimes a 24:teef:

 

[eastfly66]

Great, thanks I need to p/u some of the materials. I am heading to that tail water in about 1/2 hr. since it will be 30 + degrees today. I am still learning my way around all the resources here, there is so much it is hard to stay focused !!! This tying section will be a huge asset.
Thanks
Eastfly

 

[mcnerney]

TB: Thanks for doing the SBS, I have a bunch of Rainbow Warriors in my fly box, but really like the dark color of your variation and will tie some up.

Larry

 

[eastfly66]

The Lagartun fine blue , is that a flat or rnd wire ?
also, does it matter if the thread is waxed or not ? I'm a rookie , I know to use 8/0 for small and 6/0 for streamers and such, whats with the different kinds of threads ?

 

[comeonavs]

Yes it is


For example I use ultra wire x-sm electric blue on mine

 

[eastfly66]

Thanks, I ordered the right material than. I had a gift cert. for H&H and ordered the missing parts yesterday. I think this pattern may work well out East. It seems to me patterns from out west have more "flash and sparkle" maybe it is b/c new materials originate from out there ? I will have a UV resin
kit from Silver Creek soon , what do you think of that on the body? I have never used resins ?

What is the rainbow warrior imitating ?