Chernobyl Ant

The Chernobyl Ant is one of the most influential foam flies ever created. Despite its name, it isn’t really an ant. It’s a high-floating foam attractor designed to imitate large terrestrial insects like grasshoppers, beetles, and stoneflies—and sometimes just a big, edible “something.” This popular cold water terrestrial pattern has racked up impressive numbers of trout for me on Western trout streams. As it turns out it is a damn good warm water pattern as well! In smaller sizes it is a panfish killer and tied on a larger hooks it has racked up good numbers of bass for me over the years.


Materials List:

Hook: Long shank hopper hook or streamer hook

Thread: 6/0 Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread

Body: Two identical pieces of 2mm foam cut by hand or with a Rounded End Chernobyl Ant Foam Cutter. Alternatively you can use bi-color laminated foam

Underbody (optional): Segmented foam, natural or synthetic peacock herl, dubbing or dry fly poly yarn

Legs: Round Rubber or Silicone leg material

Indicator(optional): Bright colored 1mm foam or yarn

Tying Tip: I like to create an underbody of segmented foam using the first layer of foam. It is a little more labor intensive than a wrapped or dubbed body put provides a cleaner look and there is no worry of the underbody getting water logged and effecting floatability.

Chernobyl Any with a segmented foam underbody


Core 1750
$10.50

CORE C1750 Straight Eye Long Shanked Streamer Hooks are excellent for longer streamer patterns. C1750 streamer hooks are available in 25-count packs. CORE Hooks by Ahrex offer a superb hook and hook range that covers the needs of the modern fly tier. The CORE C1750 is a straight eye streamer hook with a bronze finish and is chemically sharpened.

*This is the hook that I am currently using to tie the Triangle Bug (Size 8)

Natural Bend Panfish Hook
$9.95

These high-quality, natural bend hooks are perfect for many panfish patterns. These are the hooks I use in many of my fly patterns, like the Mop Dragon, the Brim Killer, the Panfish Wiggler, just to name a few. They also work well for topwater patterns like hoppers, stimulators, and foam bugs. They also make a great stonefly nymph hook. I even use them for small streamers. The micro-barb makes it easy to convert to a barbless hook with a simple squeeze of a pair of small pliers or forceps.

Hook Specifications:

  • Premium hook made of HC80 high-carbon steel

  • Chemically sharpened to a perfect concentric point (punctures and holds instead of slicing and tearing)

  • York Bend, Straight Eye,

  • Long, slightly humped shank

  • 1x heavy wire

  • Micro-barb

  • Made in Japan

25 Hooks Per Package

Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread
$3.85

Semperfli Waxed Threads are the best tying threads available to today’s fly tier! This thread has been developed after examining the traditional waxed threads used by fly tiers world-wide. These polyester threads are examples of the innovation that always occurs with Semperfli products. Semperfli extruded the polyester thread so that it is flatter than other threads giving more grip to prevent materials slippage. It has a light wax coating to provide grip but not enough to clog a bobbin holder. Strength has always been a base line consideration at Semperfli so our 8/0 is 40% stronger than comparable threads. Finally we made sure the flat profile thread was easy to split! We then went that one final step, adding 240 yards or thread compared to other manufacturers 50, 100 or 200 yards making it highly cost effective.

If you have ever had to throw away a partially used spool of thread because you encountered a bird’s nest halfway through the spool you know how frustrating that can be! Semperfli has invested in precision spooling equipment that lays down even the finest fibers in touching turns. Never again will you have to deal with a hopelessly tangled spool of thread!

Need a thread color you don’t see listed here? Just drop us a line and we can order it for you!

Breaking Strains:

  • 6/0 - 938gm / 33.01oz

  • 8/0 - 754gm / 26.6oz

  • 12/0 - 489gm / 17.25oz

Bi-Color Laminated Foam Sheets
$1.25

Bi-Color laminated Foam Sheets are colors of foam permanently adhered to each other. Perfect for creating two color foam patterns. Tow color foam creates great-looking bugs and gurglers! Available in a variety of colors and two sizes.

  • 2mm/2mm - Perfect for panfish and bass foam bugs

  • 2mm/1mm - Ideal for smaller flies

2mm Foam Sheets
from $1.00

This 2mm Foam is a very durable, high floating, condensed closed-cell foam that works great for all types of foam patterns. This is the foam used for our famous Triangle Bugs and it is available wide range of colors.. The 2mm thickness is perfect for creating all of your favorite panfish sized foam fly patterns or layer it for larger flies. This material can be easily cut by hand and works well with commercially made foam cutters.

Each package contains two 4.5” x 6” sheets

Strung Peacock Herl 5-7"
from $5.00

Peacock herl is one of the most effective and versatile materials in fly tying, it has been used in fly patterns for just about every kind of game fish that swims. Uses for peacock herl include everything from thoraxes and wing cases on nymphs, bodies on dry flies and wings on streamers.  Strung Peacock herl is an indispensable material for the fly tier!

Semperfli Dry Fly Polyyarn
Sale Price: $4.95 Original Price: $5.35

Semperfli Dry Fly Polyyarn is a very buggy looking floating yarn that is easy to wrap around a hook to create a dubbed body on a dry fly. Semperfli Dry Fly Polyyarn has a specific gravity of 0.91 g/cm³ so floats naturally. This polyyarn floats on the surface of the water without the necessity for floatant, making it ideal for dry flies. Semperfli developed this highly "buggy" looking yarn so it can simply be tied in and wrapped around the hook for dry fly bodies. The loose fibrous nature of Dry Fly Polyyarn cause air to be trapped within the fibers. This will help the float-ability and look of your flies. With blended colors it matches the irregular coloring on found on natural insects.

This stuff floats like a cork!

This material is awesome for novice tiers because of the ease in which you can create perfect dubbed bodies. By using a dubbing brush you can adjust the body by making it more rough if desired.

Each Spool contains 3.6 meters of material


Barred Round Rubber Legs
from $2.50

Barred Medium Round Rubber perfect for legs on streamers, nymphs, and terrestrials. They come sheet style, stuck together in a row, making knotting legs , measuring and other such things extremely easy.

Available in single colors or in an assortment pack

Perfect Rubber Legs
$5.95

Hedron's Perfect Rubber Silicone Legs are high-quality round rubber legs that are made right here in the USA. Particular emphasis was placed on the durability of these rubber legs. They can withstand sharp fish teeth, aggressive bites, and structure in the water that might normally cause abrasion to similar materials.

In addition, Perfect Rubber Silicone Legs can handle ultra-thin GSP threads, even when cranked down on. These strong and stretchy legs are perfect for streamers, bass poppers, sea trout flies, hoppers, nymphs, and more. With vibrant colors and great retention in a buoyant, soft, and strong round strand, Hedron has created the "Perfect Rubber" legs.

This material floats, making it the perfect material for legs on your floating patterns.

1mm Foam Sheets
$1.00

1mm Foam Sheets are ideal for creating indicators on larger bass and panfish bugs as well as other dry flies. It can also be as is to create small foam patterns or glued together in multiple layers for larger flies. These foam sheets are easy to work with and can be cut with scissors or punch style cutters.

Each sheet measures 3 7/8” x 5 7/8”

One sheet per package