The Foam June Beetle Bug.!

June beetle side view

June beetle bottom view

   This fly pattern is called the Foam June Beetle Bug. It is inspired by a balcony full of June bugs flying around going about their business. I have no idea why they swarm around my balcony, But I've caught a few of them in a glass jar, so I can see what they really look like up close. These June beetle bug have a hard & fat chunky abdomen that's a bit bigger then their elytra, the exoskeleton or hard shell that protect their wings & body. Their body colour is sort of beige or light to dark brown, they have a hairy thorax and clumsy legs with sharp hook like claws for clinging on to things. This is my first attempt at tying a June beetle pattern, but I've seen it done before on you-tube & some fly tying magazines, so I got a pretty good idea on how to tie one. This beetle was tied on a standard size 14 mustad #94840 hook. All the legs were made a head of time with mono like plastic stand, doubling up and tying knots into them. For the shell or over body I used a 1 or 2 mm beige foam. The abdomen is made with mix dubbing, black on the inside and grey + beige on the outside layer. The thorax is grey and rusty brown dubbing and I also lightly dub the 2 body segmented joints. The eyes were made with a small piece of 15 lbs mono line lightly burn on both ends and UV resin was added later on to make the eyes a tiny bit bigger. The antennae is micro fibbets and the thread used was a uni 8/0 rusty brown. A bit of colouring was done with different colour permanent markers, rusty brown to the top side of the beetle, dark brown & black to the legs & joints. I dotted the eyes and antennae with a black sharpie. Add a little bit of head cement to the whip finished area and the fly is complete.!

June beetle top view

    The material list.

• Hook- dry size 8 to 16 Mustad #94840 or #94831
• Shell- 1 or 2 mm. foam
• Abdomen- mix colour dubbing
• Legs- knotted plastic strands
• eyes- heavy mono fishing line & UV resin (optional)
• Antennae- micro-fibbets
• Thread- Uni 8/0 rusty brown 
• Head cement
• Permanent markers- black, rusty brown, dark brown (optional)