Bodkin / Patterns

Backscratch Nymph

Nymph · Trout · Advanced · 2 versions

Savage Flies dressing

  • Hook 2x long nymph, 12-16

Materials

  • Weight 0.025 (1-2 sizes bigger than normal)
  • Tail Brown goose biots
  • Body Peacock herl
  • Hackle Brown rooster

How to tie it

  1. Wrap 0.025 lead wire, two sizes heavier than normal for the hook, over almost the entire shank. Start the red 70-denier thread, build a small dam behind the lead, take wraps over it, dam the front, then bring the thread back to the bend.
  2. Pick two brown goose biots from close together on the quill so they match in thickness and measure a tail a full shank length long. Set them slightly on your side of the shank, take one loose wrap and a second a little tighter, check position and length, then lock them with tight wraps. Snip the butts and bury them.
  3. Tie in the next three materials in the reverse order you will wrap them: hackle first, then wire, then herl. Pull the brown rooster hackle around the hook to gauge barb length, strip a short bare stem, and catch it in at the bend at about 45 degrees with two or three securing wraps, leaving a little bare stem so the first turn is easy.
  4. Catch in four or five inches of small brass wire on your side of the shank, pulled back so it sits just behind the rear of the lead wraps. It is not there for flash; it only locks the peacock herl down.
  5. Snip the brittle first inch off two long peacock herls and catch them in at the bend. Leave the thread hanging at about mid-shank.
  6. Wrap the two herls forward side by side, not roped, keeping them corralled against the hanging thread at mid-shank so they do not spread apart. Stop about two eye-lengths behind the eye, tie off and snip.
  7. Counter-wrap the wire rib, under then over, opposite to the herl, in evenly spaced open turns to the front. Secure with about four wraps while holding tension, helicopter the wire off, and if a sharp point is left, bury it with a couple of loose wraps.
  8. Palmer the brown rooster hackle forward in fairly open turns in the same direction as the herl; the counter-wrapped rib is what lets you do this without unwinding it. Tie off at the front with several wraps and snip the stem.
  9. Take the thread to the eye, build a ramp and then a big red thread head, and whip finish. Coat the head with UV resin, spin the vise to spread it evenly, and cure under the light for 10-15 seconds.

Other versions

1 more in the app: Tyer Recipe.

Tying videos

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