5 Minute Bug
This little beetle imitation is amazingly lifelike. Using few and ordinary materials, Russian tyer Dmitri Tseliaritski makes it quick and easy to tie.
I have featured the amazing patterns of Russian tyer Dmitri Tseliaritski before. His hallmark is the very lifelike and convincing imitations.
This pattern is no different. It's a small beetle imitation, very simple in method and materials, and even quick to tie – hence the name – but as always with Dmitri's patterns it's very close to a natural and even easy to adapt to other color schemes, imitating a very wide range of beetles.
I write "close to a natural" because this fly doesn't necessarily imitate a specific species of beetle, but is a generic pattern, which can be adapted to look like various naturals.
In the colors shown here, the 5 Minute Bug is not far from looking like a small brown cicada with non-transparent wings. Tie it in black and you have a very useful general beetle imitation.
One of the things that makes this fly easy to tie is the use of hair for legs. Many of insect and terrestrial patterns have more meticulously made legs, which look very real. This pattern has a bunch of flared deer hair, which represents the legs, and it does a fine job.
The materials are quite plain, the only less common one being the black tipped feather used for the wing. Still, this is a very easily obtainable feather, coming from the sides of a common or ring neck pheasant, which is a bird so widespread, that you should have no problems obtaining a skin. The common pheasant skin – like the skin from its fancier golden cousin – contains a wealth of useful feathers and is worth getting a hold of anyway.
Apart from that you will need some tan foam, some deer hair and a bit of dubbing.
Tying instructions
Click on each image for details. Use your arrow keys to go through each step. You can also check out the video below.
Thread and feelers
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Foam
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Tie in foam
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Rear dubbing
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Main body dubbing
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Front dubbing and legs
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Leg butts trimmed
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Foam bent forward
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Foam tied down
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Forming head and eyes
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Wing feather
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UV resin
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Tie in wings
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Dub over thread
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