Pics and Notes for Episode 16: Isopods/Cress Bugs
Nov 8, 2017
I don't have a lot, but here are a few pics of cress bugs, and a few patterns. Including Selene's "I-Selene-Opod".
Here's a close up pic of a cress bug I collected on the Kenenbec River. What you can't tell from the pic is that this is a young critter- this pic is pretty significantly magnified.
Note the head is pointing up, so note the paired antennae on the head. On the other end, note the last segment - which is actual several segments fused to form a pleotelson And then note at the very end the branched structure coming off (there should be two, but one has been broken off). That structure is called uropods. And structurally, they are equivalent of the fans you see on either side of a crayfish or lobster tail. More importantly, however, note how the legs are consistent from front to back - which is how they got their name - Iso = equal; Pod = leg.
This picture shows an isopod crawling around in my tank. I added this picture because it shows how isopods are flattened. The technical term that is used is "dorsoventrally" - where dorsal refers to the back and ventral refers to the front or belly side. If you'd rather be understood, you can simply say it looks like someone stepped on them.
I was going to add some pictures of flies - such as Schenk's Cress Bug, but after I took a few hurried pics on my vice and they were so incredibly horrible, I figured links to patterns would probably be more useful to you.
So here are a few:
Here's Shenk's Cress Bug - can't get much easier than this:
(http://www.flytierspage.com/eshenk/shenk_cress_bug.htm)
I like this one from Fly Fisher's Paradise: (http://www.flyfishersparadise.com/fly-tying/cress-bug)
I also like this one from Don Bastian:
https://donbastianwetflies.com/2012/05/03/cress-bug/
And here's a pic of Selene's I-Selene-Opod - which I really like as it is a new style of tying a cress bug, which I've never seen before, and it uses materials in a creative way.
Here is her description of how she ties it:
"Striving to keep the flat body I dub on Quick descent dubbing then flatten it to the hook with pliers and rewrap a bit with thread to keep it in place.
I latch on the brown scud back then the gold estaz.
Now, palmer on the estaz about four turns to get to the eye of the fly and tie it off. The palmering leaves what looks like segments on the back of the final fly to make for realism.
Then pull the scud back over the fly and tie off at the eye. You could singe the top of the fly with a flame to make the profile of the fly as flat as possible before bringing the scub back over the top.
That is the finished fly. Simple. It is flatter than most other patterns, segmented, and has buggy legs as well as being weighted from the dubbing."
