The Pull Back Nymph By Nicholas Nalbone
When I first started tying I had a bad problem with crowding
the eye of the hook, especially on nymphs. I started working
to develop this pattern. I was aiming for something simple,
versatile, and functional. It can be adapted to nearly every
nymph pattern, from a hare’s ear to a pheasant tail.
Materials for the Pull Back Nymph:
Hook: Any nymph hook (here I am using a Mustad, size 14).
Thread: 10/0 to match body color (the fine thread is important) .
Tail and wing case: Pheasant tail or hen back fibers.
Body: Your favorite dubbing.
Tying Instructions for Pull Back Nymph:
-
Lay out materials .
-
Start thread on the hook, take it down to the bend.
- Select 5-7 pheasant tail fibers (or substitute) and tie
them in, don’t clip the butts.
- Dub the body/thorax, try to get the upper 1/3 of the
shank thicker than the body.
- “Pull back”(hence the name) the pheasant tail fibers.
- Tie down the pheasant tail butts to form the wing case.
The fine thread is less bulky and makes the fly look neater.
- Clip the butts, tie off, clip thread.
- Brush out the body/thorax to form the gills.
- You’re done.
- Here’s a version in olive.
Fishing the Pull-Back Nymph:
I fish this as any other nymph, drifted under an indicator, or
on a 2 fly dropper, with something like a hopper, foam beetle,
or wulff. ~ NN
Originally published March 27, 2006 on Fly Anglers Online by Nicholas Nalbone.