Talleurs Pea-Ca-Bou Brown Nymph

[tie2fish]

Appears to be the same basic design but with two specific alternative materials ... peacock herl for the body and marabou for the tail and collar. Also could be construed as a Wooley Bugger w/o body hackle.

[letumgo]

Swellcat,

I think the Pea-Ca-Bou Nymph is very similar in construction to the Carrie Special, but the pheasant hackle has been replaced with marabou fibers. I have fished both patterns successfully for smallmouth bass and would say they both are excellent leech imitations. I happily reach of either of them, if they are in my fly box. It's tough to beat a good leech pattern, when it comes to "catching"...

Three of my all time favorite leech patterns:
http://www.sparsegreymatter.com/viewtopic.php?t=2894
http://www.ospreyflyfishers.com/Pattern ... pecial.pdf - This link has a nice PDF file, showing tying instructions and giving more background.
http://www.sparsegreymatter.com/viewtopic.php?t=7782

[fly_fischa]

What an awesome post Doug, I love the look of this fly, masterfully tied my friend. Everything about this tie is top notch
I don't know how I missed this one, glad I stumbled across it. The profile/taper and colours screams mudeye to me (what we call dragonfly nymphs over here). I reckon this fly would be deadly at last light and before first light during a mudeye emergence, probably unweighted on a stout hook for weight. I'm gonna give it a whirl, mudeye fishing should come good in the coming months before it gets too hot, I'll report back and post my dodgy rendition when I get around to it.

[DOUGSDEN]

Dearest Fly_Fischa!
I was glad to see your post above about Talleurs Pea-Ca-Bou Nymph! I would be thrilled to see what you do with this design! It does have a fair amount of versatility to it although maybe not as much as our friend the Wooly Bugger! I have never thought about leaving out the weight and making the hook heavier! That's a great idea! Adding weight to the nymph humps up the abdomen as you can see! With no added weight (lead wire), the abdomen would look more "mudeye like" and more natural.
Dick Talleur mentions in his tying video that contains this pattern that the fly joins the class of "averinth" (spelling?) nymphs that are more or less impressionistic and not really specific to one insect type or another. I have to agree with you guys that the likeness to a mudeye or damsel fly nymph is very close! I have noticed that the smaller patterns (size's 10-12-14) are deadly on big bluegills and crappie! The larger sizes (6&8) are hard on smallmouth in my local waters! I want to think this would be true on trouty waters everywhere! Please report back on how they do on your locals!
Please send along lots of pictures too!
Doug

[William Anderson]

Doug, this is such a brilliant thread. Fantastic pattern, remarkably tied with a rich history provided. You always seem to set the benchmark for patterns.

[ScottP]

Beautiful fly; I never have much luck with distribution wraps coming out as nice as that. I'll have to try the marabou in a split-thread loop and see how that works.

Regards,
Scott

[DOUGSDEN]

Thanks Scott,
The distribution wraps are a bit tricky at first but with your immense talent and experience, you can make it happen! The split thread loop method you mentioned intrigues me! I am very interested in seeing how you make this work!
Dougsden

[letumgo]

Bumping an old post to show the fly Doug is tying for our current swap. I can tell you from personal experience, that it is a terrific fishing pattern.

[DOUGSDEN]

Thanks for bumping this thread Ray! It helps me to remember and to enjoy the past correspondences from that post! Now, I need to get cracking! Again, thanks for the inspiration!
Doug

[Mike62]

Swellcat,

I think the Pea-Ca-Bou Nymph is very similar in construction to the Carrie Special, but the pheasant hackle has been replaced with marabou fibers. I have fished both patterns successfully for smallmouth bass and would say they both are excellent leech imitations. I happily reach of either of them, if they are in my fly box. It's tough to beat a good leech pattern, when it comes to "catching"...

Three of my all time favorite leech patterns:
http://www.sparsegreymatter.com/viewtopic.php?t=2894
http://www.ospreyflyfishers.com/Pattern ... pecial.pdf - This link has a nice PDF file, showing tying instructions and giving more background.
http://www.sparsegreymatter.com/viewtopic.php?t=7782

Wow, Sparse Grey Matter! Been a while since I thought about that site; are they still a going concern? Last I checked, the place was on life support. Too bad, those dudes had some serious knowledge to impart; if only more folks had tuned in.

Makes me very thankful for the welcome I received here. You guys rock, you know that, right?