RS2 Fly
The wonderfully versatile RS2.

The RS2, a very effective pattern and a favorite of many an angler. It can be fished as a nymph, makes an excellent emerger pattern and can even be fished like a dry. It was created over forty years ago by Rim Chung. The RS2 stands for “Rim's Semblance 2” and will imitate a midge or mayfly. Since the original creation, which was tied with beaver fur for dubbing and saddle hackle for the wings, there has been many variations of this pattern.

Vary the pattern by changing the color, using different materials for the tail / wing, forgoing the bead, etc. But, despite the variations, what all RS2 flies have in common is their profile.

RS2 Fly
The wonderfully versatile RS2.

HOOK: Any dry fly hook #18 – 24
THREAD: 8/0
BEAD: GLASS
DUBBING: Dry fly dubbing
WING AND TAIL: Antron

NOTE: After gathering your materials, prep the antron. Gather a small bunch of antron and burn one end to seal them together. This will keep the antron together and allow you to tie multiple flies with that one bunch.

Step 1: Place the bead on the hook.

Step 2: Make smooth, even wraps on the hook shank.

Step 3: Tie in the antron bunch with the burned / sealed end toward the front of the hook.

Step 4: Apply dubbing to the thread.

Step 5: Wrap the dubbing on the hook over the antron, forming a tapered body all the way up to behind the bead.

Step 6: After dubbing up to the bead, pull the antron back, then proceed to add dubbing on top. Clip t he antron to desired length.

Step 7: Whip finish the fly.

Comments

Love the RS2! Nice info on the origins of it BTW. Every fisherman should have this in their box and its also very east to tie. I prefer the two pronged micro fiber tail about 1/2 body length with a split. Either way, very effective big and great easy instructions. I also agree with using beadhead on almost everything. If you're fishing under, the keep it down ya know.... good article... again.... love the fish nerdiness of them! :)

YEah RS2 is definitely a major go-to pattern of mine. I spend a great deal of time fishing it as a dropper off of other nymphs or even off my dries. I do always fish them in grey, but definitely should be trying them in other colors. I have some sulfur nymphs that look a lot like RS2's except the profile is a bit different.

Thank you so much! It's one of my go-to-flies, especially during the cold season. The browns seems to go for them in gray and black down to a size 22 and even 24 - and these are BIG brown trouts!

RE: Two Pronged micro-fiber tail --- I love using those as well!

Thanks for this post! I was wondering if anyone knows where I could purchase these flies online... I can't seem to find any of the bead head versions.

Thanks!

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