A client of mine asked me to tie up a dozen Grass Wasps for him before traveling to the Albany River in Ontario. He wanted to fish the wasps near steep fast stream banks and in some broken water so wanted extra flotation and profile. Using soft hackle in tandem with a conventional criss-cross hackle collar will add great buoyancy to this fly when fishing faster water. The added barbell eyes create a distinct profile from below. Using underwing material such as Aero Wing Dry Fly will also help keep the fly in the surface film at the proper angle.
Barbell eyes created with 20lb singed mono with 2-3 coats of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails (Extreme) Black Out. Abdomens created with thread teardrop profile then 2-3 coats of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails (Extreme) Black Out. Unlike most UV Resins available you cannot beat nitrocellulose (cellulose nitrate). Nitrocellulose is a highly combustible material that is also used in making dynamite. It would take a trout a mouthful of dynamite to destroy most of my fly's coated with SH product. Once fully dry this product promises its namesake, hard as nails! That being said you need to add a bit more flotation to your fly even though the TMC 212Y is a great floating hook. Black Aero Wing Dry Fly fibers are used as an underwing material which creates great buoyancy for faster water.
Thread: Veevus 14/0
Hook: TMC 212Y sizes #11-#15
Eyes: 20lb. mono singed and coated with Sally Hansen Extreme Hard as Nails (Black Out)
Abdomen: Teardrop thread bump accentuated with 2-3 coats of SH
Thorax: Beaver Belly
Legs: Knotted pheasant tail dyed black
Underwing: Aero Wing Dry Fly black (Tiemco)
Hackle: Hen and conventional hackle wrapped criss-cross around thorax around 5-6 turns is all that is needed
Wings: Hen tips dyed black
~Clint Joseph Bova