In this week’s episode of Tying Tuesdays, watch as Max ties the WD-50! The WD-50 is the improved WD-40, not that the WD-40 needed much improvement. This pattern has a little added flash and some wing on top making it more emerger like. This fly is tied normally on the TMC 2487, but I switched it with the TMC 2457 which is a 2x heavy wire hook for some peice of mind and to give the unweighted fly a little more weight. The WD-40 was created by Mark Engler in CO has been a staple in everyone's fly box, and the WD-50 created by Carl Stouts should be right next to it. The WD stands for the wood duck feathers used for the tail and wing case. This can also be swapped out for mallard flank. Grey, olive, and black seem to be my most productive colors, but experiment with red and purple if you dare. The WD-50 is a deadly little fly trailed behind a dry or fished sub surface in your nymph rig.

Prefer to read? Step-by-step write-up on the AvidMax blog.