Developed by Dennis Collier, the Sno Ball Beetle is a smaller more streamlined version of the popular Chernobyl Ant. The Sno Ball is quick and easy to tie, durable and super buoyant.

The following is Paul Fedeles’ variant. Instructions can be found in the May 2020 edition of HFF Flycast.

Materials

• Thread – Black Wooly Nylon
• Body – Black 3mm Foam in Hopper shape
• Legs – Small round black rubber legs
• Hook – 2x or 1x Heavy Nymph Black, small or medium, round
• Indicator – White and red sticky foam sandwich. I use sticky foam from Spotlight.

Instructions

1. Start thread ¼ back from hook eye. Cover hook back until just past the hook eye. Make a small bump on the hook at that spot.
2. Coat the thread with a little Sally Hansen’s “Hard as Nails”
3. Measure the body length of the shaft and tie it in just in front bump.
4. Keep winding the thread and create a gap between the two parts of the foam for the legs. Every couple of turns run the thread under the foam to keep it from turning on the hook.
5. When separating the rubber legs from the strip, take two at time.
6. Wrap the two leg strips around the thread and tie it in the middle of the gap between the foam. Same for the other side. Leave the legs together.
7. Move thread forward to the original tie in point, coat it with a little more “Sally” and then make the final segment. A couple of turns around the hook eye while doing this makes the fly stronger.
8. Cut a small indicator piece of the foam sandwhich. Remove the paper from the white foam and then tie it on top of the last segment.
9. Half hitch or whip finish the fly under the foam.
10. Trim:
    • The front of the foam to look like a beetle head (three cuts, one straight across and two cuts one on each side).
    • The indicator to fit the fly.
    • The legs just in front of the head and just behind the body and then use a bodkin to split them