Backcountry Halo Golden Stone Fly Tying Kit

A Golden Stone Built for the Water Trout Love

When Golden Stones begin crawling through bankside rocks and fluttering over the river, trout have a reason to look up. The Backcountry Halo Golden Stone is designed for that exciting window—a buoyant foam stonefly with the profile, movement and visibility needed for rocky banks, fast riffles and broken pocket water.

At the center of the pattern is a twisted yellow-and-brown foam abdomen inspired by Robert Williamson’s twisted-foam technique. The contrasting strips form a rounded, segmented body, while irregular bronze markings soften the yellow and create a more naturally mottled appearance. A clean Amber Spinner Halo Hair wing, yellow foam bullet head, buggy brown beaver-dubbing thorax and long barred legs complete a fly that looks alive before it ever touches the water.

This kit brings the materials used in the tutorial together in one place, allowing you to spend less time searching for individual components and more time exploring what this pattern can do at the vise and on the river.

Why This Pattern Works

The Backcountry Halo Golden Stone is not built around one exaggerated feature. Each material contributes something important to the finished fly:

• Twisted 1mm Zero Gravity Foam creates a buoyant, rounded abdomen with visible segmentation and blended yellow-and-brown coloration.

• Bronze marker accents break up the exposed yellow segments after the body is wrapped and secured, creating more natural variation.

• A 2mm foam bullet head adds structure and concentrated flotation near the front of the fly.

• Amber Spinner Halo Hair forms a clean wing with added surface area and visibility without creating a dense, water-heavy clump.

• Long Grizzly Flutter SiliLegs project around the thorax to create a broad stonefly silhouette, strong barred contrast and responsive movement.

• Brown Beaver Dubbing builds a compact, buggy thorax that visually connects the abdomen, wing, legs and head.

Together, these elements create a Golden Stone dry fly that can be dead-drifted beside cover, twitched through a seam, skated across broken water or used as the buoyant upper fly in an appropriately balanced dry-dropper setup.

Watch the Backcountry Halo Golden Stone Fly Tying Tutorial

Follow the complete pattern from the first thread wraps through the finished bullet head. The tutorial shows how to prepare and twist the foam strips, build the abdomen, apply the bronze markings after the foam is secured, control the Halo Hair wing and position the long barred legs around the thorax.

[EMBED YOUTUBE FLY TYING TUTORIAL HERE]

Tie along with the video, pause at each stage and see how the included materials work together to create the finished Backcountry Halo Golden Stone.

What Comes in the Backcountry Halo Golden Stone Kit

The kit includes the pattern-specific materials used in the fly tying tutorial:

• Hook: Moonlit Premium TOGATTA ML601, sizes 8–14

• Thread: Moonlit Fly Fishing Nylon Mocha Brown

• Body Foam: Moonlit Zero Gravity 1mm Foam in Yellow and Brown, cut into 1mm × 1mm strips for the twisted abdomen

• Head Foam: Moonlit Zero Gravity 2mm Foam, Yellow

• Wing: Moonlit Halo Hair, Amber Spinner

• Legs: Semperfli Grizzly Flutter SiliLegs, Root Beer

• Thorax: Moonlit Beaver Dubbing, Brown

• Marker: Bronze permanent marker for mottling and blending the exposed yellow foam

[ADD TO CART / CHOOSE HOOK SIZE]

Choose Your Golden Stone Size

The Backcountry Halo Golden Stone can be tied from size 8 through 14, giving you options for different naturals, water types and fishing conditions.

• Sizes 8–10: Build a bold, highly visible profile for large Golden Stones, rough pocket water and heavier flows.

• Size 12: A versatile all-around option for riffles, current edges and fishing tight to the bank.

• Size 14: Creates a more restrained silhouette for smaller stoneflies, lower water or selective trout.

If you are building your first set, sizes 10 and 12 provide a useful balance of flotation, visibility and natural proportion.

From a Simple Twist to a Living Silhouette

One of the most satisfying parts of this pattern is watching the abdomen take shape. Two narrow strips of foam become a segmented body with a simple twist. Once that body is secured, the bronze marker lets you control the final coloration one segment at a time—keeping enough yellow to suggest a Golden Stone while blending it into the brown.

The finished pattern becomes even more convincing when the wing and legs are added. Halo Hair flows over the abdomen in a clean, tapered wing, while the long Root Beer SiliLegs extend forward, outward and back. On the water, those barred legs react independently to current and come alive with even a slight twitch.

It is a pattern with enough detail to inspire confidence, but its effectiveness comes from simple materials working together with purpose.

Where to Fish It

Look for Golden Stone opportunities around:

• Rocky banks and exposed streamside stones

• Fast riffles and broken pocket water

• Current seams beside heavier flows

• Overhanging trees, willows and bankside vegetation

• Clear or clearing water as seasonal runoff begins to recede

Start with a natural dead drift placed close to the bank or cover. If trout do not respond, add a controlled twitch, skate the fly lightly across the current or allow it to wake at the end of the drift. The foam construction gives the pattern the buoyancy needed to experiment with movement without immediately sacrificing its surface position.

Tie the Pattern. Learn the Technique. Explore the Possibilities.

The Backcountry Halo Golden Stone Fly Tying Kit gives you more than the materials for a single fly. It introduces a twisted-foam body technique that can be adapted to other stoneflies, caddis and terrestrial patterns while helping you build a durable Golden Stone for some of the season’s most memorable surface fishing.

Choose your hook size, follow the video tutorial and build a row of Golden Stones ready for the banks, riffles and pocket water where the next explosive take could happen.