Bodkin / Patterns

Sparkle Nymph

Nymph · Trout · Grayling · Intermediate · 1 version

Lucian Vasies

  • Hook Jig hook, any brand, 10-16
  • Thread Brown 50 denier Sumo or GSP

Materials

  • Body Natural pheasant (Pheasant tail barbs)
  • Thorax Natural and black pepper (Mad Rabbit blended with Mad Rabbit Dubbing Plus)
  • Legs A3 crystal thread (Crystal body thread)
  • Hot spot Orange (A3 or A4) hot spot (Grip Thread 10/0)

How to tie it

  1. Start brown Sumo or GSP on the jig hook and run it back to the bend, keeping the base thin so the pheasant tail body sits flat.
  2. Tie in a bunch of pheasant tail barbs by the tips and wind them forward in touching turns to the 60% mark, then secure and trim the butts.
  3. Here is the new part: instead of dubbing a plain thorax, tie in several strands of Crystal Body Thread (A3) at the front of the abdomen and leave them long, splayed out to the sides.
  4. Blend natural Mad Rabbit with black pepper Mad Rabbit Dubbing Plus and dub the thorax over and around the Crystal Body Thread tie-in, so the strands emerge from the fur rather than sitting on top of it.
  5. Trim the Crystal strands to leg length, roughly to the hook point, and splay them. The result is a thorax that moves and sparkles at once. The strands flex and catch light with every twitch of the drift, which is what wakes up fish in cloudy weather or muddy water.
  6. Finish with three or four turns of orange Grip 10/0 as a hot spot at the head, whip finish, and pick the thorax out so legs and dubbing merge.

Tying videos

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