Published Jun 2. 2013 - 10 years ago
Updated or edited Oct 28. 2021

Double Legs

While browsing fly patterns on the web I found this interesting and buggy looking Swedish Caddis pattern, and discovered that its history actually traced back to a GFF seatrout pattern.

Buggy looking - An excellent caddis pupa and emerger imitation with some weight to bring it down
Double Legs AKA Drop Dead Legs
Daniel Smith

Double Legs is a Swedish fly pattern originated by Erik Andreasson, and its construction and appearance draws traces back to many well known Scandinavian patterns such as Ullsocken, The Omoe Brush and many others featuring double or triple hackles, again having the Irish shrimp flies as their ancestors.
While trying to trace the origins and history of the fly, which I saw first on Facebook tied by Swedish Daniel Smith, I found a few references to Erik Andreasson, and on the site Invicta Flies I saw it titled as a Dalby Dribbler variant.

Now, the Dalby Dribbler

is a fly that I know! That fly is tied by my good friend Mark Vagn Hansen, and was featured here on GFF many, many years ago. Reading that reference, I could clearly see the similarities. The colors and materials are different, but the construction and profile is very much the same. The Double Legs has the addition of a bead, and while the Dalby Dribbler is a saltwater fly imitating a small bug or shrimp, the Double Legs is much more a caddis larva or emerger.

The bright green color

is very common in the non-cased caddises, and even the egg laying adults will often feature this green colored tag. So the Double Legs pattern can imitate several stages of these very common insects.

Autumn lake fishing - Fishing in the Swedish lakes in Hökensås
Lake fishing
Daniel Smith

I would not hesitate

fishing it in the salt, but as Daniel Smith notes in his Swedish article on the pattern, the fly is an excellent stillwater fly and also very useful in streams where Daniel has pursued grayling with the fly - and with good luck.

The fly is an easy tie

with no intricate steps or materials. There's some variation in the materials depending on who ties it. The original tied by Andreasson uses peacock herl for the body and black hackle and no bead head, while the alternative version tied by both Andreasson and David Smith, which is shown here, has a hare's mask body and partridge hackles as well as a bead for weight. I personally like both versions with a slight preference for the weighted version, but the variations just show that there's an opening for interpretations and possible adaptations to match the naturals in your waters and your fishing style. You can basically use what you have as long as you keep to natural colors and soft and not too long hackle feathers.

Step 1 - bead

Step 2 - weight

Step 3 - press wire

Step 4 - start thread

Step 5 - cover wire

Step 6 - start tag

Step 7 - tag done, tail

Step 8 - fold tail

Martin Joergensen\' - Martin Joergensen
Double Legs (original)
Pattern type: 
Emerger
Originator: 
Erik Andreasson
Species: 
Materials: 
Hook
TMC 200 size 10
Thread
6/0 black
Tag
fluorescent green thread or floss
Tail
green Flashabou
Hackle
(fore and aft): India hen, black
Rib
extra fine green copper wire
Body
peacock herl
Skill level/difficulty: 
Easy
Instruction: 

Double Legs (alternative)
Pattern type: 
Emerger
Originator: 
Erik Andreasson
Species: 
Materials: 
Hook
standard wet fly hook (Mustad 3906, 3906B) size 8
Head
brass bead, gold or copper
Thread
6/0 primrose or black
Tag
varnished green thread (like old flyline backing)
Hackles
hungarian partridge
Rib
fine copper wire
Body
hare\'s ear dubbing blend
Skill level/difficulty: 
Easy
Instruction: 

Step 9 - tag and tail done

Step 10 - rib

Step 11 - first hackle

Step 12 - tie in

Step 13 - wrap hackle

Step 14 - dub thread

Step 15 - dub body

Step 16 - rib

Step 17 - second hackle

Step 18 - wrap hackle

Step 19 - finish and varnish

Step 20 - done

Double legs - So named because of the double hackles
Beaded Double Legs
Daniel Smith
Double Legs (alternative)
Pattern type: 
Emerger
Originator: 
Daniel Smith
Species: 
Materials: 
Hook
Knapek N size 8 or 10
Head
black bead with lead wire inserted
Thread
White and Black UNI 8/0
Tag
D-Rib (chartreuse, small) over Mirage Tinsel Opal
Hackles
partridge
Rib
copper wire (Brassie)
Body
hair from a hare\'s mask
Skill level/difficulty: 
Easy
Instruction: 

Fishing the fly

is much as you imagine. In stillwaters you can fish it on the bottom using a sinking line or leader and letting it go to the depths, slowly retrieving it with the figure of eight technique or simply move it by lifting the rod tip or pulling the line. In running water you can fish it on a floating line, cast upstream, mend and let the fly drift just under the surface, being extra alert when the current catches it or you start lifting it for the next cast, inducing that attractive and very emerger-like upwards motion in the water. Tying both a beaded and an unbeaded version will let you vary the depth of the fly in different current speeds.

Triple Double Legs - You might as well tie a bunch while you are at it
Tie a bunch
Daniel Smith

Comments

Nice fly and very ef...

Nice fly and very effective. I tie a similar variety of this excellent pattern which I think i got from a Pennsylvania website. It can be a killer with a copper head. A variation I use is tying the rear hackle with olive CDC whilst retaining partridge for the front hackle..

brutzelcom's picture

Nice pattern, I can'...

Nice pattern, I can't wait to try it out on the White River closer to caddis time.

Hässäkkä...

Here is another Finnish varied Kakshäkiläinen called Hässäkkä (~ mess) by Aarne Karjala http://perhorasia.fi/Fly/Fly.thtml?flyID=6771 The idea on Hässäkkä lies in the single flashabou tail flash and the weight which makes the fly swim upside down. It's a real killer, check it out yourself:

The page is in Finnish, but Google translator will prolly help.

Martin, this fly is ...

Martin, this fly is also used in East Europe for more than 20 years. I saw this pattern in an old fly fishing book from '80.
Here in my country (Romania) it's also known as Pulsar Fly. We use green, red or black floss, partridge feathers and glass beads for light flies or metallic beads for heavy flies. A few year ago we start to use jig hooks instead of classic hooks.

cheers
Lucian

Nice looking fly. I'...

Nice looking fly. I'm a warm water man and I'm thinking it will work well for panfish, particularly with that chartreuse flag on the tail. The variegated hackle looks very "buggy."

This pattern resembl...

This pattern resembles greatly a Finnish fly called Kakshäkiläinen tied by Lauri Syrjänen (deceased)

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