Nymphs: Step-by-step fly tying instructions. 

Voodoo Stonefly by Bill Chandler.

I've used this general stonefly pattern for years. It was inspired by the stonefly nymphs my good friend and fantastic realistic tyer Kevin McEnerney used to tie. It's best for fishing in the early morning and in the evening, when stoneflies are more active. It’s a great stonefly pattern for spring steelies.

Fly tying materials

Hook: Tiemco 200R sizes 2-12.
Bead: Nymph-Head Heavy Metal™ tungsten bead, stonefly black or mayfly brown.
Thread: Black or dark brown
Underbody: Vernille, brown; tied along the side of the hook shank.
Dubbed body: Squirrel dubbing; ¼ black, ¼  dark brown, and ½ brown.
Ribs: Gold wire and a stripped peacock herl.
Wingcase: Dark mottled oak turkey tail two wing cases on sizes 2-6
Thorax: Squirrel dubbing; ¼ black, ¼  dark brown, and ½ brown.
Hackle: Mottled hen hackle, brown.
Gills: Ostrich herl, white or cream. 
Tails & antennae: Hackle quill stems, dark brown.
Weight: Lead wire can be used instead of vernille for the underbody.

Fly tying instructions

Step 1

Place the bead on the hook and place the hook in your vise. Then, start your thread right behind the eye of the hook.

Step 2

Tie on two hackle stems for antennae and whip finish the thread. Then, start your thread behind the bead.

Step 3

Wrap your thread down the hook shank just past the barb of the hook, then return the thread to mid-shank on the hook. Tie on your first piece of vernille on the side of the shank. Wrap the thread to a point just before the bead, and cut off the excess. Wrap the thread back down the hook shank to a point just past the hook barb. Cut off the excess and repeat this step on the other side of the hook.

Step 4

With your thread at the bend of the hook, put a small ball of dubbing at the bend of the hook. Tie in your gold ribbing  and your stripped peacock herl on the bottom of the hook.

Step 5

With that done, tie in your hackle stem tails one at a time on either side of the body. Using the ball of dubbing to keep the tails separated. After that is done, coat the whole body with thin head cement and let it dry.

Step 6

Now dub the entire body from the tails up to the bead head, and wrap the thread back to mid hook shank.

Step 7

Wrap your peacock quill forward to a point about mid hook shank. Leave a gap between wraps to show the dubbing and counter-wrap the peacock quill with the gold wire.

Step 8

Tie on the strip of oak turkey by the tip. Tie on the hen hackle feather by the tip underneath the thorax, then tie in the ostrich herl.

Step 9

Dub the thorax and wind the ostrich herl forward to the head, leaving some gaps for the dubbing to show through. Wind the hen hackle through the ostrich and pull the wing case over. Tie the wing case off and dub on a collar and whip finish the fly. Color the eyes on the bead red.

Your Voodoo Stonefly is finished! Go catch a big fish.