Quote Originally Posted by Chuck441 View Post
Mr. Sawyer was primarily speaking of blue wing olives, which are fine swimmers. Many of the nymphs that we attempt to imitate are not so good at it. They do their best to reach the surface, or bankside structure, but vary in their swimming abilities. Also, many nymphs are dislodged from the bottom, or are part of natural drift, and are not swimming to the surface. They likely have their legs akimbo, not tucked into their cute little nymphy selves.

Chuck
I think CHuck is on the mark here. It really depends on the type of mayfly nymph. For Baetis, BWO, nymphs, I omit the legs (or even a picked out thorax) as the naturals are thin and good swimmers. For others that are more of the clinger variety, March Browns come to mind, the legs are pretty prominent and probably bear representation in some manner.