While sitting behind the vise last night it occurred to me that since I have started tying entemology is becoming a bit more important. I’ve never really thought of nymphs as having different colors. Usually I’ll tie on a hares ear or pheasant tail and call it a day. So anyway, I was sitting there and began wondering about caddis colors and then went on to wonder about mayfly nymph colors. As we all know the duns have defined colors on them and they sometimes change when they become spinners. Caddis also have definate color differences. How about nymphs? Do the different mayfly nymphs have a major difference in color over say light and dark. Will a sulphur nymph be yellow or an olive nymph be, well, olive? And while I’m bugging you for more information, what colors do you typically tie your caddis pupa in?
The only nymphs that I tie in a specific color are Caddis larva. I tie them to match the natural cased caddis color I find in a particular water. Mayfly nymphs seem to work as long as I stick to the correct “shade” of light or dark. Although, if I have the exact color needed on hand I will always tie with it first.
Jeff,
Yes, nymphs of specific insects do come in specific colors. These colors, or shades of colors, can also vary from stream to stream. Many pattern books will list specific ties which mimic specific nymphal stages of most mayflies.
You mentioned the Hares Ear, and Pheasant Tail. These are two pretty universal patterns. You are probably aware that they can be tied light, or dark in shade. While they are not ‘imitative’ in the sense of accurately portraying any specific nymph they catch a great many fish on a regular basis. They are suggestive of life and are therefore accepted by the fish as a potential food source.
The Orvis fly pattern book lists quite a few imitative nymphal patterns. If you ‘Google’ for example “e Dorothea nymph fly pattern” (sulpher) there are many articles about the fly and its stages as well as links to patterns which are pretty specific to that fly. Searching “Sulpher Nymph” may yield different results as E Dorothea, E Rotunda, and E Vitreous for example, while each being different, are many times lumped into the general “Sulpher” genre of fly.
Entomology is an interesting field in itself, but to the fly fisher who wants to fully understand his quarry and what it is likely to be feeding on it is essential.
In my fly boxes, to answer your immediate question, you will find some stream specific patterns as well as generic ‘light and dark’ nymphs as well as pupa. If I fish any stream on a regular basis, sampling what is there is a great way to learn what tweaks may be necessary to a particular pattern for the stream. If I am just here for the day, I will turn over rocks etc, and select a fly which most closely imitates what I find.
And don’t forget the soft hackles, Partridge and Orange, Partridge and Yellow, Partridge and Green, etc. These have saved more than one outing. They are easy to tie, so you can get all you need quickly, and they catch fish like a magnet. They do not imitate anything specific, but they work almost anywhere you will fish.
Tight lines,
George
To agree with the previous posts - mayfly nymphs do have different colours, but they must resemble the stream bottom or they will be eaten. Thus various colours of mud are appropriate choices. In the ‘old’ days before so many synthetics and dyes, tyers changed nymph colour by using different coloured thread on the same Hare’s Ear Nymph. The thread colour comes through to give a hint of the adult-to-be. Still a good technique I think.
I’ve wondered how important the color is in many situations. Last fall we went out for steelhead (Lake Erie streams) for the first time. Fish kept hitting nymphs regardless of color. They faithfully ignored all the blood dots, sucker spawn, etc. I was just amazed that they’d pass up those tasty looking triumphs of fly tying I had produced in favor of those tiny drab looking nymphs. I don’t know that anybody tried yellow, but everything from a sort of tan color to black appeared to work. I concluded that what looked good to me wasn’t what mattered.