The Toe-biter

A glance into any stream fly-box will reveal that the majority of our patterns represent the smaller, more common aquatic invertebrates. Presenting patterns that match the food items the trout most likely see is how the system works. If we are nymphing streams and rivers that’s generally something in muted tones and about a size 14.

Maybe that’s too simplistic, but what happens when our go-to plan isn’t working. Go smaller? French? Czech? Or just drag up a fish or two with a Woolly Bugger?

A trout’s world is ruled by return for effort, so when we start switching around to other patterns of a similar size or smaller we may be exacerbating the problem. Perhaps our first option should be to offer the trout a larger food item, one that is worth expending the energy to take. Possibly why the last resort Woolly Bugger often works — rather than triggering an aggressive response, it’s just a good reward for effort.

While you can ‘nymph’ with a Woolly Bugger there are some larger, more realistic options the trout are accustomed to seeing. Stoneflies are an obvious choice, common in most waterways and several species are quite sizeable. However, for a really large option, one that’s worth the trout moving a long way for, nothing beats a dobsonfly larvae.

Also known as hellgrammites, creepers or toe-biters, dobsonfly larvae are among the largest predatory aquatic insects in trout streams on the mainland and in New Zealand. Somewhat caterpillar like in appearance, with a formidable set of mandibles and a fleshy filament on either side of their eight abdominal segments, they are quite distinctive. Commonly up to three or four centimetres in length, they are often seen moving across cobble bottom substrates as they actively hunt for smaller prey items.

Patterns are usually well weighted and fished close to the streambed, because unlike many other aquatic larvae, dobsonflies do not rise to the surface to hatch. Instead they crawl out into streamside leaf litter where they pupate for several weeks before emerging as adults.

Despite its size the toe-biter pattern is a relatively simple tie; just a set of steps repeated for each segment. Keeping the segments in proportion to end up with eleven is the trickiest part, although I doubt the trout will notice if there is some variation to the natural.

Start by attaching your thread with just a few turns behind the hook eye. Keeping your thread wraps to a minimum, tie in an orange goose biot facing forward on either side of the hook eye. Then secure with a small whip finish and trim your thread. While not totally correct anatomically, it adds a nice little highlight of colour.

Thread a bead backwards onto the hook, with the larger opening facing the hook eye. It should fit over the base of the orange biots and sit up snug with the rear of the hook eye. Place ten wraps of thin lead wire behind the bead, reattach your thread and wrap an even base down the hook shank.

To help with the size of each segment you can mark the thread base to divide the hook shank into sections. I mark where the abdomen will finish, then the mid-point of the abdomen and find this helps space out two sets of four even segments.

Begin the abdomen with a tiny amount of dubbing, just enough to support two biots. Tie these in to form a short tail. Dobsonfly larvae do not possess tail filaments but rather two short clawed pro-legs which help them hang on in the current. Build the first segment with a small amount of dubbing and a single goose biot facing backwards on either side. The tips of these biots should be level with the end of the short tail. Repeat this process another seven times, keeping each pair of biots approximately the same length, to create an abdomen of eight segments, each with a pair of backwards facing biots.

Change to black goose biots and darker dubbing for the thorax. Repeat the process two more times forming slightly larger segments and with the black biots a little longer. For the last segment reverse the order and tie in the biots first, directly behind the bead, this time facing forward.

Then form the segment with dubbing. Run a black marker over your tying thread and form a neat whip finish behind the bead. The darkened thread will blend in with the darker thorax.

Toe-biter imitations are much underrated. Although a favoured bait in years gone by, this popularity has not carried over into fly fishing. Trout of all sizes will readily tackle them, and as an added bonus the carp cruising the slower pools rarely refuse one twitched in front.

While not everyone’s first choice for a day on the stream, this imitative pattern has the ability to move trout on quiet days, making it worthy of a place in your stream box.