WD 40 pattern

[dc410]

It doesn't happen very often but I got the urge to tie some small stuff tonight so I cranked out a few of one of my favorite subsurface midge type patterns in preparation for the upcoming winter fishing season. The pattern is the WD 40. I find this pattern to be very productive when fished as a dropper off of a dry fly. It has become one of my "go to" small dropper patterns, being a close second for me to the Zebra midge. The WD 40 is a very easy pattern to tie being made up of only a tail, thread body, thorax and wing case. The tyer can use their imagination to create almost any look they want by using different materials and colors when making variations of this pattern. I like to fish them as a dropper off the bend of a Griffiths Gnat (usually size 18) for decent visibility. I included a photo of two variations tied on size 18 (TMC 2487) and size 20 (Daiichi 1140) hooks. Folllowing is a list of the materials that I used for these two variations.

Olive WD 40
Thread - Olive
Tail - Immitaiton Woodduck (mallard died yellow)
Thorax - Dark olive dubbing
Wingcase - same material as tail tied back over thorax

Black WD 40
Thread - Black
Tail - Bronze Mallard
Thorax - One strand of peacock herl
Wingcase - One strand of pearl flashabou tied over thorax

Give 'em a shot on those sipping trout one those nice days this winter. The olive variation is a great Baetis immitation. Good Luck!

 

[lv2nymph]

Nice, I need some more small dropper patterns. Thanks.

 

[mutzinbaugh]

I watched my buddy catch a dozen suckers one winter afternoon on the wd 40. we also caught trout on them. I will agree with dc 410, put some in your box. we always called them green hooks until we actually saw the real name. we were tight line nymphing though never really got into the dry dropper scenario...I hear it works though.