Krilla

This is the KRILLA. It's a pseudo shrimp/krill type fly that imitates some of the food items Steelhead eat in Lake Michigan. Apparently they forage on species of freshwater shrimp in the big lake. I've only heard rumors of this, and not sure if it's even true. But either way, this fly works. It's something different they have never seen, and looks very edible to the eye of a fish. I've kept this thing under wraps for 2 years now, but have decided to share it. Hope you like it. 

MATERIALS:
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Hook: 1530 sz 8 (+)
Thread: Veevus 6/0 Fl. Orange (+)
Eyes: Medium Mono Eyes (+)
Tail: White Laser Dub (+)
Legs: UV Polar Chenille Pearl (+)
Shellback: White McFlyFoam (+)

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Start with a thread base, and figure 8 tie your eyes in, just back from the ring of the hook.

At the back, slightly into the bend, tie in a light tuft of white laser dub. 

Fold it back, and tie it down. This is the tail, or whatever...

At the base of the tail, tie down a piece of White McFlyFoam. Cover it with thread, working up towards the eyes.

Use your thread to evenly compress the foam, and cover it completely. This gives the shrimp a little more "body", and when wet, that fluorescent orange really shines through. 

At the back, tie in a piece of UV Pearl Polar Chenille. Leave a small gap though, keeping a small bit of thread exposed right at the tail. Kind of like a "hotspot." You'll see what I mean...

Wrap that forward, nice and tight. Tie if off right behind the eyes, cut the excess. Then take the thread, and fill out the void in and around the eyes. Just build up a little more mass, and form a basic head.

Pull forward the McFlyFoam, and tie it down in front of the mono eyes. Should be locked in right at the hook eye. This is the shellback, and has a nice translucency when wet. Whip finish, cut the excess, cut your thread. 

To form the legs, gather all the fibers from that polar chenille, and pull them straight down tightly. You're going to need sharp scissors for this, since it needs to happen in one clean cut. Razor scissors work the best (Loon or Dr.Slick). Cut the legs at a bit of an angle, as shown, to give it some variance in length. 

Should look something like this.  

Adjust that angle to your liking. Or you could use medium length polar chenille, but it's harder to grab onto to make that cut. Probably doesn't make a single difference to the fish, I just think it looks fishy. 

For the tail, trim and sculpt the laser dub to form a tapered shape. Should be about the same length as the body, maybe a little shorter. Helps to hold the scissor blades at a pretty low angle, and just trim little bits away with each slice. Should end up looking like a paintbrush. Again, the fish probably don't care. 

 Here's a view from the underside. Notice that orange section we left exposed at the base of the tail. 

This is what it looks like when wet.

Also remember to put some head cement or zap-a-gap on the whip finish to prevent that shellback from blowing apart. Just adds some durability to the bug.

Fish it just like you would a Stonefly, Hex, or any other large nymph. Dead drift it through holes, matched with an egg fly, and you are good. This provides something they haven't seen yet, which certainly is an advantage. You could also tie it in Pink or Chartreuse by just changing the thread color. Caught a lot of steelhead on this wacky thing. 

Thanks for reading!

-Erich