Power Ant Fly Tying Recipes
Cinnamon Power Ant
Hook: Tiemco 103BL, sizes 9-15 (or any standard dry fly hook)
Thread: 8/0 Uni-Thread, Rust Brown
Abdomen: Rabbit fur, rust blended w/some rust goat hair
Wing: White Calftail
Hackle: two furnace or brown saddle feathers, slightly oversized
Legs: Brown rubber, medium
Head: same as abdomen
Tying Tips
- The Tiemco 103BL is a light wire dry fly hook. Whatever hook you choose
to use, make sure it's not too heavy.
- Try to use rabbit fur with plenty of guard hairs and mix with a little
goat hair. "Spikey" is good.
- The best hair for the calftail wing comes from the base (as opposed to
the tip) of the tail. This becomes especially important on smaller sizes.
- You could certainly use neck hackle instead of saddle, but it will
increase bulk at the hackle tie-in point.
- Use plenty of hackle. Try to get 5 or 6 turns on each fly. Slightly
oversized hackle will aid floatation.
Tips for Fishing the Power Ant
- The concept behind the design of this fly pattern was to provide an ant
pattern that was easy to see and floated well enough that it could be fished
more often, and in faster water, than "standard" ant patterns which tend to
be hard to see.
- A slight twitch can be very effective at times
- The Power Ant is a very good lake pattern, especially if flying
carpenter ants are present.
