1. Troutnut Forum
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2. Fly Fishing
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3. cress bug photo

Hi Troutnut! Do you have a photo of a cress bug on a rock or something so I can see what it looks like in a naked-eye sort of way? You have several very close shots, which are neat, but I can't really see what they look like in a stream environment. Thanks

Merry Christmas to all!

I don't have any onstream underwater photos of sowbugs/cressbugs yet. I do have one or two of scuds, though.

If you want to make an AWSOME cress bug.

Get yourself a size 20 tiemco caddis pupa hook and load it with gray dubbing and then trim, do not shell back it or add legs

Amen, though you can also tie them bigger, especially for stained or high water.

I like Muskrat fur, and ofen leave it spiky, at least on one side, to suggest legs, unless I do the Ed Shenk thing and spin fur in a dubbing loop and trim to a generally flat shape on the bottom, convex on the top.

Yeah, they can be a lot bigger than size 20, probably even up to size 12 in a caddis hook.

My most productive is a 20

I carry them 14-26

At 26 they dont look like much but they have saved the day more then once.

Jeremy, how do you trim up your fly? Do you ever pick out the guard hairs and leave it spiky?

Troutnut: I have some digitals of cress bugs if you'd like them. I can send them to you and you can use what you want. They are from Central, PA. Just let me know how I can forward them to you. I suppose Jpegs. are the best way. I could attach them to an email.

I use a very spikey dubbing to begin with. Died hares ear or some other natural. I prefer possum as its REALLY spikey. Sometimes i dont pick it or trim it. just wrap it on. I really found you dont need a shellback and the ones without shellbacking prove better for me.

It goes along the lines of somthing i once read.
"The best imitation of a fly looks the same from every angle"

I pick the sides and trim to get the shape, cut the top and bottom flat.