Nymphs
Tying Jeff’s Tin Man Nymph
I have spent years experimenting with various materials to try to come up with a great leg material. Now granted, legs in a lot of cases are a secondary feature . There are probably few cases where the legs are the ultimate trigger for fish taking a fly. But then again, we have no way of knowing that for sure. But I include legs on many of my patterns for one reason….like eyes on streamers the real food item has them, so it makes sense for me to include them. And if you have read some authors, one being Gary Borger, a favorite of mine, certain features can indeed be a ‘trigger’…a feature that is that ‘seals the deal’ and makes a fish take a fly. And I know from personal experience over almost 35 years of flyfishing that exaggerated features like legs, or tails, or eyes can be an attractive feature on a fly and make it very effective. I could figure this because as soon as the exaggerated body part was torn, chewed away, or for whatever reason gone the fly failed to work any longer like it had……go figure.
So here few are with experimenting with leg materials. I have always used flashabou accent or krystal flash (same material depending upon who is selling it) for many things. Great for flash and accent on a body or tail. The past year or so I have been experiementing with it as leg material. It makes great terrestrial legs, dry fly legs, dry fly wing accents (especially caddis patterns), and great nymph legs. In fact, the darker ones like olive, rootbeer, brown, or black make some of the neatest looking, most durable, ‘killer’ nymph legs you will see.
Below is a pattern I have been using for a while now. The first one, is good for imitating mayflies and caddis larvae. The second is a great imitation of many of our early season big flies…grey fox, march brown, and quill gordon…….
Material List
Thread: Black UTC 70
Hook: Daichii 1560 size 12-18
Head: 7/64″ Black brass bead, not glass…
Tail: pheasant tail fibers
Abdomen: Pearl mylar tinsel, wrapped
Ribbing: Small Gold Wire
Wingcase: (1) strip ThinSkin Black
Legs: Krystal Flash, black
Thorax: Peacock herl
Tying Directions:
Start the tying thread just back of the bead and lay a thread base as shown.
Wrap lead wire, lead or non tox, either is fine, but I prefer lead because it actually sinks..., just back of the bead as shown. This will add weight plus help make a more uniform body.
After adding 5 or 6 turns of lead, jam the lead forward into the back of the bead, this will help stabilize the bead and keep it from sliding backward. Trim lead ends, and then cover the lead wraps with several turns of thread as shown.
Tie in about 4-6 pheasant tail fibers for the tail, then a 4 inch piece of flat pearl mylar tinsel.
Wrap the mylar tinsel forward for the abdomen, then rib the abdomen with the wire.
With wire tied off position the thread as shown for the next step.
Tie in a one inch piece of black thinskin that is about 1/2 to 3/4 the width of the hook gape.
Tie in two strands of peacock herl as shown...
Tie in a two inch piece of black krystal flash on each side as shown, wrap forward then back on each side/each piece so it is positioned as shown.
Wrap peacock herl forward a couple of turns, tie off, but do not trim.
Tie in a 2 inch piece of black krystal flash on top for the middle legs...secure with several thread wraps. Move the thread forward to just back of the bead. Then wrap the peacock herl and tie off.
Tie peacock herl forward and tie off as shown. Trim excess.
Pull thinskin over for the wingpad and tie down with a couple of thread turns. Trim excess thinskin.
Tidy up the tie off area, whip finish, then apply head cement.
The finished nymph....an attractor mayfly pattern that also doubles as an excellent free living caddis larva.
Tying Jeff’s Hare n Peacock Nymph
Spring is the season that we get a lot of large mayflies. They don’t often hatch in huge numbers, but fish take interest in them because of their size . Our early hatches are Quill Gordons, Grey Foxes, March Browns, etc., and these flies actually hatch subsurface as a fully formed/winged adult and rise to the surface where they ride the currents for a short distance and then fly off. A traditional hares ear is a great fly, my personal favorite is a variation using a peacock wingcase/wingpad. When the above flies are ready to hatch the wingpad is very dark, just like wet peacock herl. Tie up a few and give them a try, I think whether on wild or hatchery fish you’ll find them effective.
Hook: Daichii 1530 sizes 12-18
Thread: UTC 70 Red
Head: Brass Bead head bead gold
Tail: Lemon Woodduck flank fibers
Ribbing: Oval Tinsel, small gold
Abdomen: Hare’s Ear Dark Dubbing
Wingcase: Three Peacock herl
Legs: Lemon Woodduck fibers, 4-6 each side
TYING DIRECTIONS for Jeff’s Hare N Peacock Nymph
Put bead on the hook and start thread and lay a thread base on the hook shank.
Wrap lead wire 5-6 turns just behind bead, then trim ends, then "jam" lead into the back of the bead.
Cover the lead with several tight thread wraps.
Finish covering lead with thread, then finish the thread base all the way back covering the hook shank with thead.
Tie in 6-8 lemon woodduck fibers for the tail, secure, trim excess.
Tie in a 4 inch piece of oval gold tinsel, then dub about three inches of the thread with hare's ear dubbing.
Wrap dubbed thread forward to create the abdomen.
Use a small caliber gun cleaning brush to 'scuff' or 'fuzz' up the dubbed abdomen...
Wrap the oval tinsel forward only 3-4 turns and tie off.
Tie in several strands of peacock herl and let the length hang off the rear...
Dub about an inch more of the thread and complete the thorax as shown.
Cut a "V" from a lemon woodduck feather as shown, hungarian partridge works well too.
Tie in the V section as shown. This will form the legs.
Pull peacock herl over to form wingpad and tie off. Trim excess.
Whip finish and cement. The finished Fly....
Tying Jeff’s Skinny Nelson Nymph
As a fly tyer and fly fisherman you get used to always having certain fly patterns on board….that is certainly true with blue winged olives. Though folks recognize and readily use these flies as dry flies, few folks understand enough about the entomology of the insect to intentionally make a fly choice that is a good fascimile of a particular insect. A pheasant tail, or more appropriately the English wire tied Pheasant tail—-a Frank Sawyer original for chalkstream waters in the UK– – is a pretty good choice. But more recently, tiers are tying all sorts of new, snazzy patterns. The Charlie Craven JuJu flies…the Ju Ju Baetis as one….the John Barr contemporary hit Copper John….all of them either intentionally imitate the common blue winged olive or Baetis. This particular pattern is a variant, a variation on a popular western Baetis pattern, the Skinny Nelson. If you fly fish the Rockies and fish with guides who fish hatches a lot, or the major tailwaters like the Bighorn, Missouri, Beaverhead…..this fly is fairly well known. And for good reason: it catches fish like crazy. Not only there, but here too. I have yet to find a stream it didn’t work on…..even the selective browns of the Smith and Clinch,South Holston and Watauga Tailwaters…..this fly works on all of them. Particularly when tied long and skinny…..
This particular one is a variation I like to use on local waters, small streams and Delayed Harvest waters. It works well from the time small flies are effective , usually Sept/Aug through the early Spring. Try some……I think you’ll find they are highly effective.
Material List
Hook: Daichii 1560 or 1530, size 16-20
Thread: Black 8/0 Unithread
Head: metallic purple 11/0 seed bead, you can use black, gold, silver, orange too, all work
Tail: Pheasant tail fibers
Ribbing: Copper Wire, small
Abdomen: 8/0 tying thread , black, the thread above
Wingcase: Mylar tinsel, medium, pearl
Thorax: Peacock Herl
Legs: leftover PT fibers from tail
Tying Directions:
Install seed bead on the hook, start the tying thread as shown, make several thread wraps just back of the bead to secure it.
Tie in Pheasant tail fibers as shown, letting the fibers extend out barely long enough to make a tail...err on the short side, let the fibers laying against the bead remain there. Wrap all the way forward forcing the fibers against the bead, then back to the rear ...overwrapping the fibers all the way back to just before the hook bends down...
With fibers overwrapped it should look like the above. Now tie in a piece of small copper wire. If using the Ultra Wire brand, I love the 'amber' color for this fly , and in size Small. The wire gets tied in up front, then wrap back over it all the way to the rear....
Wrapping over the wire all the way to the rear will look something like this....
Wrap wire forward, spaciing it out slightly as shown, in evenly spaced neat wraps. Tie off and trim.
Tie in piece of flat mylar tinsel as shown. Secure and trim excess.
Tie in peacock herl for the thorax as shown. Trim excess.
Wrap peacock herl forward completing thorax, then tie off. Trim excess herl.
Here's where you'll be glad you didn't trim the pheasant tail at the front. Pull two fibers to each side and tie over the edge of them, forcing them to lay at the angle shown. Use a MINIMUM of thread turns for this step. Trim excess PT fibers.
All trimmed neat and ready to complete the fly...
Pull the mylar strip over and tie down, again using a minimum of turns...2 to 3 at most.
Pull mylar back over itself and put another 2-3 wraps on it, trim the mylar, and whip finish and cement.
The finished fly....some flies are all talk, this one 'gets er done'...lol I guess if Larry the Cableguy flyfished that is how he would put it....
Alex Bruni with a South Holston brown that found a Skinny Nelson pretty tasty....
Here’s another customer favorite, we’re posting it again because of customer interest/requests. You can click here to view the fly tying steps to tying this great trout pattern.
