zebra nymphs

I know I am probably a little silly----ok a lot. I started tying 3 years ago and am self taught. everything I learned was basicly from this site. It is a friend of mines b-day and I am tying him a bunch of flies. One of them is a size 20 & 18 zebra nymph. I searched for any info on how to make them and got a lot of info but everything I tried did not quite look right. The white stripe was to wide to narrow to bulky you get the picture. I had been tying some parachute flies and of course my bench was a mess. lying there was some excess calf tail hair. I tied it in as with the wire and thread I had previously used and wala it looked perfect so there is my tip: Use white calf tail hair for the stripe on zebra nymphs. Long winded huh

If it works, thats all that matters. You can always substitute materials.

Is it Zebra Nymph or midge?

ok I stand corrected it is a zebra midge LOL told ya I was silly

I've used silver wire for the 'white' part of zebra midges when I tied them. Calf hair no doubt looks just fine but would it tend to break easily when it meets a trout's tooth?

The one I tie came from a pattern here on FAOL that's called the Lee's Ferry midge but it looks like a typical zebra midge to my untrained eye. Here's the FAOL article if you want to compare:

[url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/071700fotw.html:12118]http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/071700fotw.html[/url:12118]

Simple to tie and with the wire like he said much stronger. Any color bead head black thread with wire(gold,silver). A good pattern that is working well here in Arkansas is a copperhead.
Copper bead, Rusty Brown Danville thread and copper wire. You can also tie these with any color thread and black wire. Red with silver works well. Good versital pattern and easy tie. I just tied 12 dozen this week. I wasn't trying to correct you but thought there might be a new nymph pattern out there for me to look into.



[This message has been edited by parrotheadcrb (edited 05 May 2006).]

parrotheadcrb I took no offense to what you said I appreciate you correcting the statement so I don't look to silly. Never thought about the hair breaking with the teeth. I will try some of the really small wire. That is what I like about this site everyone helping each other many thanks everyone

Here's a link to some very good tying instructions that include a zebra midge.
[url=http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/flybox/details.cfm?parentID=39:e545e]http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/flybox/details.cfm?parentID=39[/url:e545e]

The nymph you have described is one from this side of the pond.

It is two horse hairs , one black and 0ne white, tied in together and wound up to form the body side by side giving the appearance you require.