Bodkin / Patterns

Pat's Nymph

Nymph · Trout · Intermediate · 1 version

Tyer Recipe

  • Hook 2X heavy nymph hook (tied here on a #10, 1X long), #6-16
  • Thread Black 70 denier (8/0)

Materials

  • Lead-free wire (weight) - (0.015 in two layers (up to 0.025 for a heavier version))
  • Hackle fibers (tail) Brown and grizzly mixed (Small mixed bunch)
  • Muskrat dubbing Natural gray muskrat dubbing (2-3 applications)
  • Soft or neck hackle Brown hackle (1 feather)
  • Soft or neck hackle Grizzly hackle (1 feather)

How to tie it

  1. Weight: wrap lead wire up most of the shank, leaving room at the front for the hackle and head. Before cutting the wire, wrap a second layer back over about half of the first to build a taper, then break the wire off and slide the wraps into position.
  2. Start the black thread, build a small dam of wraps behind and in front of the wire, ramp the thread over the two levels of wire, and take the thread back to the bend.
  3. Tail: mix a few brown and grizzly hackle fibers and tie them in a shade longer than one hook gap. Secure and trim the butts.
  4. Body: pull the guard hairs out of a pinch of muskrat underfur and spin a fairly tight noodle. Dub a buggy body forward over the weight. It will take two or three applications, stopping short of the eye.
  5. Tie in a brown and a grizzly hackle together at the front of the body, tips forward, and trim the butts.
  6. Wrap the grizzly one to one and a half turns and follow it with the same amount of brown, then tie both off and trim. This is a sparse wet-fly collar, not a dry fly hackle.
  7. Stroke the hackle fibers back like a soft hackle and build a fairly heavy thread head, ramping it up so the fibers lie swept back along the body.
  8. Whip finish four or five turns and add a drop of head cement. Leave the fly buggy and scruffy, no cleanup needed.

Tying videos

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