Rubber legs and rubber leg dubbing do not appear on many models of nymphs. I think it’s probably down to the fact that it’s not the easiest material to work with!
I see attractor dry fly patterns incorporating usually fairly large diameter rubber legs and there is no doubt the ‘X’ way of tying them in has proven to be a great trout taker for decades! Including rubber legs in nymphs, especially weighted smaller patterns, on the other hand appears not to be so popular. Often a bead is used for weight and this automatically reduces the space on the hook shank to add other materials.
Trying to tie in individual rubber fibres is a pain! It’s difficult to seat the legs in the correct position. To overcome this, I came up with this method that makes life a little easier! You end up with a more random tie whilst still retaining an ‘X’ like effect. Best of all, it’s relatively easy to tie the legs in just a little time consuming picking them out to complete the fly.
It’s also important to use legs appropriate to the size of hook you are using. Sourcing a supply of varied thickness rubber legs was challenging and essential for the tying of my SBN’s as many of the models incorporate these legs.