A Tup's Nymph

[Donald Nicolson]

Here is a Tup's Nymph, one of James Leisenring's huge contributions to trout fishing.
Hook: size 14 Barbless Ideal Nymph.
Silk: Primrose Pearsall.
Tail: Strands from Rusty Dun Hen.
Body: Two strands from Seta Reale pale yellow Extra Strong Buttonhole Twist shade 00365.
Thorax: Mix of yellow and claret seal's fur, more yellow than claret.
Hackle: Shortish fibred Rusty Dun hen.

[Jim Slattery]

Nice fly Donald. A few points. Leisenring suggests 2 hackle points, tied very short for the tail. Also did you tie the the tail in with the tying thread or the body material?
Jim

[Donald Nicolson]

I tied te tail in with the body material, but I had problems controlling two fibres, so I used a small bunch.
This was not my first attempt. Next one will be better.

[JeffHamm]

Hi Donald,

Another nice fly. I tied some p having to make a few substitutions of material (floss for the body, and honey dun hackle, and wool rather than seal's fur) but I do like the look. I then proceeded to tie up a variety of flies using this basic shape and playing with the colour patterns. This has produced a nice collection of hackled nymphs.

- Jeff

[Jim Slattery]

Hi Donald,
I recieved the button hole twist you sent. Nice stuff! The palest color you sent 00273 is pretty close to the shade that Leisenring suggested. It could be a wee bit paler, but it is very close. I think that being a bit more yellow is better than being paler. When the fly gets wet it will retain a lighter yellowy color. The paler colors tend to darken up and become olive, which is great if that is what you want but if you want to imitate the sulphers and Cahill flies the darker yellow is the way to go. Compared to older button hole twist the Serta Reale is a bit thicker. Overall it is a nice product and I plan on carrying it.
On the Rusty dun hackle you used for the Tups, Hebert from REE?
Thank you so much,
Jim

[Donald Nicolson]

I'm glad they arrived ok Jim. Never having seen the Buttonhole Twist that Leisenring used, when I saw the mention of buttonhole use on
the colour charts, I had to give it a trial. Some of the other colours will be useful, there are other flies that use silk for their bodies.
I had in mind the old mid 19c Tweed flies, using Pearsall's gossamer is a bit wastefull, and I think the Buttonhole might produce better looking, tapered bodies. I think I might try it for some sea-trout and small salmon flies, with that range of colours I think I'll get good results.
Yes, it was a Hebert rusty dun, courtesy of REE. For some reason my hand seems to always go to that skin these days.
Lakeland Flytying over here is stocking the Hebert hen, and I got a Dark Dun from them, an excellent hen hackle.
I am going to dress a few more of Leisenring's patterns and the Hebert looks good for them.

[Donald Nicolson]

Hi Jeff,
As you can see I can't keep away from the traditional patterns.The 'flymphs' are very satisfying to tie, one of the best modern books is
Dave Hughes book on Wet Flies, it has an excellent section on Flymphs.
I am keeping my eye open for those two tone fly patterns you've taken an interest in. A useful book on Scottish sea-trout and salmon patterns (a rich source of two-tones) is Tom Stewarts book 'Two Hundred Popular Flies'. These were popular flies in Scotland in the 40s and 50s. A lot of rather obscure patterns to anyone outside Scotland. Two highly recommeded books.

[JeffHamm]

Hi,
Thanks for the tip on the 200 flies book. I've been checking out a number of used book stores for various books and will add this one to the list. Of course, will probably resort to the internet at some point, but this is more fun. I'm also a big fan of traditional patterns. I recall talking to someone at the club and mentioning that I caught one on a Tup's Indespensible (dry fly) and they said "I didn't think anyone fished those anymore!" I like the look of the traditional flies, and I enjoy tying them. I also find it satisfying to tye up obscure patterns and see how they do. Overall, I think just about any fly will catch fish if its fished properly. It seems that wet flies have been set aside by most, and they've either forgotten how to fish them effectively or never learned (especially the younger anglers who may never have fished a wee wet, the closest being a streamer or lure).

Anyway, I tied up a couple based upon Pritt's water cricket (one of my favorite spiders). Basically, a black tail, yellow body with black thread for a rib, a thorax of yellow wool with a bit of dark orange wool blended in (claret would work as well), and a shortist hackle of black hen. I chose the orange to mix in because the water cricket can be tied either with a yellow or orange body, so I figured this was a good compromise. Looking forward to trying these.

- Jeff

[Deezel]

Okay, nice fly and I have a question:

Why is it called a 'Tups'? Clearly it's not similar to the 'Tups Indispensible' in materials, especially the body.

Deezel

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Donald,

Very nice fly.

Despite everyone else catching a ton of cutthroat on dry flies at the Idaho Fish-In, all of mine came on wets, including a very nice 19 3/4 inch fish ibn full spawning colors.

I brought several fish to hand with flymphs, along with a Peacock herl and starling wet, and Jim's Triple Threat Caddis was a killer fly for me.

The new silk arrived while I was gone. After a quick examination of the colors I made the mistake of handing the package to VEE. I got it back several colors lighter. I'll let you know how it works for me after things settle down a bit.

REE