FLYMPH FORUM

Good Evening Everyone!



I wanted to bring to you a very famous and for me, a very productive nymph pattern from the late Dick Talleur. I first saw and tied this pattern from his dvd entitled "Classic Wet Flies & Nymphs" from the Hooked on FlyTying series. It's called the Pea-Ca-Bou Brown and as you can see, I tied this one in Olive color. I have never strayed from these two colors and the field of color choice is wide open! Enjoy!

In order of application...
Hook: Daiichi 1710 or equiv. in sizes 8-14. This is a great smallmouth killer in the larger sizes!
Thread: Brown 6/0 or 8/0 Uni-Thread
Hackle Collar: 1 Brown marabou blood with the tip trimmed out and the fuzz on the bottom of the shaft pulled or scissored off. A distribution wrap (fibers coaxed 360 degrees around the hook shank) is applied with the tips of the marabou projecting out over the eye of the hook appx. 2/3's the length of the hook shank.
Tail: Brown marabou fibers secured on top (a pinch wrap here is very handy) of the hook shank at the rear. Use appx. half the amount of fibers as you did for the hackle collar.
Weight: Lead wire or lead substitute. The diameter is up to you. I prefer to underweight the fly but I see my sample is obviously overweight....like me! Let experience & purpose be your guide! Coat the wraps with any good head cement or adhesive to lock them in against the hook shank and to seal the lead.
Body: 4-5 longish peacock herls with the flues full and thick along the shaft. Form a thread dubbing loop, clip the bottom of the loop (it's important to do this), twist the herls and thread together (it's now a herl rope) clockwise, wrap forward to the eye of the hook snug behind the base of the hackle collar and secure with several wraps of thread. Stroke the hackle collar (marabou) fibers backward, bring the thread forward and form a neat head in front of the hackle fibers. Whip finish and seal with head cement!

Seeing the video or dvd is worth a thousand words and does a much better job than I do in bringing to light the techniques that Dick used in making these great patterns! I strongly recommend, if you can, getting a copy of this great video! If any questions, give me a shout right here on the forum!
Doug

Dougsden, Howdy;

Congratulations and what a truly great looking offering. Way to go ol' bud!

hank

Nice share, Doug. Your verbal instructions are quite clear ... all one really needs to tie this pattern. Your version as shown is a model to strive for.

Doug,

I am really impressed by the overall profile of this fly, especially the carrot shaped body. What tips can you give us, in creating that tapered shape? How exactly are you forming the body? I imagine that a lot of care goes into the construction of the underbody, to accomplish the taper.

The green variation looks like an ideal damsel imitation. Can you tell us more about how you fish this fly. I imagine this would be a great pattern on stillwater, and fished as a streamer with a slow figure-eight hand retrieve.

This is a "new" pattern for me. Thank you for introducing me to it, and telling of it originator. Wonderful addition.

PS - I love the name of this fly. Fantastic!



Link for YouTube video showing the distribution wrap technique for the collar:

Thanks guys for the positive feedback! I really is a fun pattern to tie once the distribution wrap is mastered. If I can do it....
Ray, thanks for posting the links to YouTube links! I haven't gone there yet, but I will! This is the kind of support that makes this forum special!
The carrot shape body is something I really like and it seems to wear well especially on this pattern! I try and incorperate this on my flymph bodies (the underbody that is) as well. I know that this flies in the face of convention esp. when we are making tapered, pre-spun flymph bodies on our Clark spinning blocks (William, yours are still the best and the most beautiful!). We all know that as the underbody goes, so goes the covering or overbody! It's the same with the peacock "rope" as it is with a fur noodle or any other chosen overbody! After the bumps are established on both ends of the hook (from the placement of the marabou hackle collar on the front and the tail placement at the rear), I wrap the lead wire from bump to bump and then take a few moments to fill in with tying thread the gap between the lead wraps and the base of the bumps. I don't generally tarry to much over the lead wraps themselves. I just concentrate on making a smooth transition from back to front! This look is more magnified on a flymph than a bigger pattern like the Pea-Ca-Bou Brown!
I get a kick out of handling marabou! Streamer wings and beards, tails and hackle collars on the Pea-Ca-Bou, etc. I have tried to show our students at the spring tying sessions at our local outdoor rec. center but it must be an aquired skill. We usually have a bunch of marabou on the floor when we are done!
How do I fish this pattern.....?? Just like any other weighted pattern! In streams, it's a 45 degree upstream cast (up and across) and then follow the fly to below you just as you would a wolly bugger or wet fly for trout! I do lose a few but I also pick up some really nice bass! In still water, lighter weight and a slower retrieve! The takes are solid and powerful! I have broken off a few fish when I am not paying attention and I have my rod pointed straight at the fly. Dummy me!
The color combinations are endless. For me, the brown in the recipe above and olive in the picture above (sorry about that) are very good. Who knows, flouresent colors may do the trick at times! Ray, you mentioned this pattern as being a good damsel fly immitation! I think you are spot on with this observation! Dick T. mentions it as being in a class of "avorinth" (spelling?) nymphs which I assume to mean general patterns not being specific to any one insect. Much like our friend the Wooly Bugger!
Thanks for listening to my ramblings! Tell me if you agree or disagree with any of it!!
Doug in the Den

Thanks Doug. I will be attending a kids fly tying event this weekend. I think this is going to be the pattern I try to teach them to tye. With any luck, we can then test them out in the nearby pond. Should be fun.

Doug - I tied up a half dozen of these this afternoon, as practice before tomorrow's tying event. None of mine looked as nice as yours, but I'm sure they will still catch fish. Out of curiosity, I tied some with brown marabou, instead of the olive. A very attractive variation.



Hackle collar is too long (it is going to takes some practice to get the proportions like yours). All part of the fun...

Ray,
There is certainly nothing wrong with your creation! And, I definately would not hesitate to pass this in front of your local troops for inspection.....both smallmouth and trouts of all kinds! The combination of brown tail and hackle collar over the traditional peacock (very dark green) seems to fish better when the crawdads are out and about. The olive tail and hackle version seems to be shouting damsel fly nymph. I have used them both on smallmouth and my bunch seems to like the brown combo better. May just be a regional thing. My bluegill friends are just the opposite. They seem to prefer (in the smaller sizes of course) the olive combination over the brown! Mostly they are pigs and they give me the nod no matter what I toss at them!
From the pre-heated oven I call my den,
Doug (Is anyone else melting in the sun like me?)

Doug,

I had great luck with this pattern last weekend. Great pattern.

I'm glad I added some of these to my flybox. Thank you Sir!

Any thoughts on a compare-and-contrast with the Monkey-Faced Louise/Carey Special?