I am trying some different nymph patterns utilizing a brown speckled hen saddle patch.
The tails are Squirrel guard hairs.
The abdomen is yellow dubbing with brown stripes penned in.
The “legs” are formed from the brown speckled saddle patch. If you apply a little lacquer to the top of the fly (where the “legs” are formed), they will maintain position.
[
W](http://s1101.photobucket.com/user/byhaugh/media/IMG_4962_zps09afdbaa.jpg.html)ith different dubbing.
Interesting fly. Did you have a natural in mind when you tied this?
I don’t think I could get such a defined stripe on dubbing. I’m guessing you have a thorax of ice dub or similar dubbing?
What I’m most curious about is how well an exposed stem like that will hold up to fishing.
The lacquer seems to do the trick. Having said that, I am more about tying to induce a strike than for durability.
One of my hero fly tiers was Fran Betters. I watched a video of him tying one of his Ausable patterns. When he finished the fly, he said: “There, that fly should be good for catching 50 fish” - paraphrasing him.
Since I tie my own, and enjoy doing so, losing a fly to a trout’s teeth doesn’t bother me at all. I would rather that happen than to have tied a “bullet proof” fly and not enticed the strike. After all, the insects we are imitating are quite delicate themselves………
Just my way of looking at it.
The dubbing on the thorax in both flies is SLF - Whitlock’s mix.
Sorry, Byron, I was thinking about damage due to banging about subsurface structure and not solely that caused by teeth,…hence holding up to fishing. I get you on what you’re saying, though. Thanks.
Byron, I use just a little bit different method with about the same results and the feather across the back is then protected:
I will use pheasant-tail fibers as shown in the article, or Scud Back or Mylar as a wing case.
Here are a few pics of nymphs I tie this way:
[
](http://s682.photobucket.com/user/kglissmeyer/media/2013 Fly Fishing Album/DSC_10032_zps9146f872.jpg.html)
[
](http://s682.photobucket.com/user/kglissmeyer/media/2013 Fly Fishing Album/DSC_09761_zpse9167c70.jpg.html)
I also tie several emerger patterns using CDC puffs in much the same way:
[
](http://s682.photobucket.com/user/kglissmeyer/media/2013 Fly Fishing Album/DSC_09961_zpse7b80ca9.jpg.html)
Check out this old Fly of The Week submission I did which shows a similar method of making nymph legs with hen feathers: http://www.flyanglersonline.com/fotw/2010/fotw20100208.php[](http://www.flyanglersonline.com/fotw/2010/fotw20100208.php)
Kelly,
Yes. I was actually highlighting the use of hen saddle patch feathers for “legs”,
Many materials have been popular to "cover " the thorax.
Remember the decade of Raffia? It seemed all nymphs were tied with natural or synthetic Raffia.
Byron, That’s a technique that I’ve been using to put legs on a nymph for over 20 years now. I was shown it by Oliver Edwards in 1990 or 1991. Usually I will tie in a thorax cover before the legs then follow the legs over the top with it. Most often I use game bird hackles, but your hen saddle looks fine for the job.
Cheers,
A.
The best thing is that hen saddle hackle patches are usually only around $5 to $10.
