Another breathable (the filoplume really comes to life in water) nymph, like the Feather Duster; found this one while poking through Randall Kaufmann’s great Fly Tyer’s Nymph Manual. It was a very sad day when Kaufmann’s Streamborn closed an their catalogs stopped coming; always regretted that I never got to visit the shops.
as I was preparing to put the filoplume in the split thread, I realized I was using Uni 8/0; great thread for a lot of tying but not one that lends itself readily to splitting. Half hitch and clip off the Uni, re-load the bobbin with the UTC (Danville 6/0 would work great, too) and we’re back in action. Split the thread
insert the filoplume
spin the bobbin, trapping the filoplume and creating a “chenille”
moisten fingers and stroke chenille back while wrapping forward (5 shots and I couldn’t get 1 to focus)
thorax complete
pull peacock herl forward to form wingcase; tie off and trim
whip finish, SHHAN
Any stray fibers in the thorax can be plucked; you can also shorten/thin out the thorax with a few well placed tugs if you’re of a mind.
That is really a great looking nymph. Twisted marabou makes such a good looking body I am surprised it is not used more for nymphs. The tail and filoplume should give it great movement also. I know I have some marabou about that color but I think my filoplumes on the pheasant I have are more gray, I may have to do a two tone. Another great Step by Step.
I’ve got his book, The Flytyers Nymph Manual open to page 66, Chapter 18 titled “Filoplume Mayfly”; there are 4 other times where he calls it Filoplume Mayfly. I believe the fly was developed by Gene Armstrong, who also worked at Kaufmann’s and was one of the first to incorporate the feather into a number of successful stillwater patterns. Whether it’s the wrong term is a moot point; it’s what he calls it and I’ll be ***** if I’m going to tell him he has to change it. You want to get wrapped around the axle picking semantic nits, knock yourself out.
As much as I respect the scientific (not sceintific) community, I don’t think I need to waste their time with such a pointless, trivial exercise. Hope you like the Filoplume Damsel SBS I posted, as well.
I really like that pattern and it could not have come at a better time! I just finished up 20 of the Hummingbird Christmas globes which I plan to give to the “boys” and staff at Arrowhead Ranch for Christmas and I have a large lot of aftershaft feathers removed from the pheasant feathers used to make them. Now I will use some to tie up this pattern to put in my fly box.
