I swear, there are times when I believe I am the only person in the entire state of Colorado that has heard of a Tups. There are times that I mention it by name and I get the weirdest looks from other fly fishermen.
The first photo is my standard Tups variant that I use as soon as the river flows go down from Spring Run-off. Normally there are still a few Yellow Sallies around. At that time the PMD hatch seems to be in full swing. I have a suspicion that the Tups does dual duty imitating both bugs. I use it on the Eagle, Colorado, Roaring Fork, Gunnison, and Frying Pan rivers. I use it as a nymph, and I also swing it. The abdomen is Light Cahill thread, and the thorax is a mixture of light Yellow Haretron dubbing, Red dubbing, and sometimes a splash of Orange dubbing. Sometimes natural, sometimes synthetic. I add and mix until I like what I am looking at. I tie this pattern in size 16 on a Mustad 3906B Hook (or similar). Once in a while on a size 14.
Years ago, a tyer by the name of A.K. Best had mentioned in an article or book that his favorite PMD pattern for the Frying Pan River was a Melon Quill. It was a dry fly. I saw a few of these flies later on. To me, the body was the color of cantaloupe. I do not recall what the rest of the fly looked like. I could not find a thread to duplicate this color. By the way, the PMD's I have seen on the upper Frying Pan, or at least I think they are PMD's are the same melon color. I found that by taking the light Yellow Haretron and inserting it in to a split thread of Red, I could get close to the melon color when the fly became wet. It works, for me, on the upper Frying Pan from mile marker 6 to the Dam. The bad thing is, it is a bit of a disappointment any where else I have fished it. I tie it in size 18 on the 3906B hook.
Frying Pan Tups
sweet!