Some of the best dry-fly action of late summer and fall features trout feeding on Isonychia adults. As Tim Flagler notes in this video, fish seems to eat these mayflies even when there are very few on the water. Therefore, and Iso dry fly makes a good searching pattern or indicator fly.
In this great video from Tightline Productions, Tim offers his high-floating Iso Iso Baby, a “remix” of the classic Parachute Madame X (PMX) by Doug Swisher. There are tons of great tips involved in Tim’s step-by-step instructions, as usual. The way he wraps the post, adds adhesive, and then twists the fibers to spread the glue is ingenious. Plus, his methods for preparing and attaching the hackle will make your patterns look cleaner. Finally, if your rubber-legged patterns usually end up lopsided, Tim’s got the solution.
Iso Iso Baby
Hook: 1X-long dry-fly hook (e.g. Dai-Riki #300), size 10 and 12.
Thread: Black, 8/0 or 70 denier.
Tail and post: Deer hair, cleaned and stacked.
Adhesive I: Superglue.
Dubbing: Isonychia dry-fly dubbing.
Hackle: Medium dun.
Legs: Barred round rubber legs.
Thorax: Isonychia dry-fly dubbing.
Adhesive II: Head cement.
WARNING: Ear worm below.