FLYMPH FORUM

hook TMC size 12 3769
thread UNI wine 8/0
tail and body pheasant tail
rib copper wire
thorax peacock herl
hackle partridge

Handsome fly. I like the delicate dressing and the tag.

Well executed. I've been tying a similar pattern all day at show. Doing it with the wire only, no thread, just for traditional pt's sake.

Old Hat wrote:Well executed. I've been tying a similar pattern all day at show. Doing it with the wire only, no thread, just for traditional pt's sake.

Nice fly well done Fishhead. The only one that I have seen tying with copper wire only was Hans Weilenmann.

Greeting

Good looking fly fishhead..


Ruard, you might enjoy this piece from a few years ago
http://www.sexyloops.com/articles/troutflydesign1.shtml

thanks guy's, my skill level is not there yet for no thread. Old Hat I am still working on a fly with those hooks you sent me, I will post one when I get it right, the hook eye being bent really changes the way the hackle lay's on the hook.

Good Job Fishhead! Great pattern, a little bit of weight in it from the wire and a great nymph/emerger pattern.

fishhead wrote:thanks guy's, my skill level is not there yet for no thread.

fishhead

Looking at this beautiful fly of yours I think you have the skill level. Fine copper wire works even easier than thread(holding tension/no bobbin), here is a video of Frank Sawyer tying his Pheasant Tail nymph. Even a whip finish...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=416Os9V84n8

Roy wrote:Good looking fly fishhead..


Ruard, you might enjoy this piece from a few years ago
http://www.sexyloops.com/articles/troutflydesign1.shtml

Thank you Roy. Here is an article that I have published in our Poldernimf and that is tranlated to send to Neil Patterson:

The Neil Patterson Trophy

“To win the Grand Slam Award you have to catch one specimen of each of the following fish: a dace, a chub, a perch, a grayling and a trout; in any order, all in one day......For bait you’re only allowed to use wire wrapped round a hook.”

( A quotation from “Chalkstream Chronicle” by Neil Patterson )

These sentences gave Frits and I the inspiration to create the Neil Patterson Trophy with a bottle of “Tullamore Due” as the prize. This year, for the first time, we shall fish for “our” trophy. All Poldervlieg members were invited to join in without charge.

This is a quotation from our club magazine “The Poldernimf “ last year ;
In the meantime, I know that Tullamore Dew is spelled with an ..ew, we are again a trophy competition farther on. Twice is too little to call it a tradition, I think that it has to be something like five or perhaps ten times to gain that status. If we continue then it will certainly achieve that. If it is up to me alone then it will still continue as I find it one of nicest competitions of the season.

Once again last Sunday we offered a bottle of whiskey as the trophy. At eight o’clock we met at the café “Rust Wat”. Richard and Matthew arrived shortly after, which was just as well because Frits’ bicycle tyre burst, literally, just before we reached the café.

It was drizzly weather so we decided to go to Pancras-Noord. The water there was somewhat clear and fishable. At eight-thirty we started tying our nimphs. Frits had brought along his ‘portable vice’ – he who has sausage-fingers has to be smart too. At a quarter to nine we were rigged and could start fishing.

The weather had also cleared up. I had made two nymphs, each on a size fourteen Sedge hook. The upper of the two had a red copper body with yellow copper wire thorax, the other a green copper body with a little reddish copper too. The lower was slightly heavier.

In a still dike I quickly caught a small Roach. I saw more fish but they did nothing, too small I think. Richard fished at the corner on the other side of the same dike. I soon caught a Rudd near the outlet pipe of the dam, next to the outflow and to my great surprise a Bleek of 15cm in length.

Now a Perch will not be a problem I thought. I fished a little quicker, not a thing. The search was on, another Bleek full of roe and yet another.

In a corner the Perch was hooked, carefully does it, but no he fell back into the water, not hooked.

A little later I pulled my line slowly from the water, let it hang, as so often happens the line tightened and just before my feet I caught my desired Perch. I now have all four, it was nine forty, just within the hour.

After a while I fish the dike along side the road. Frits had told me the water was much clearer there. Matthew joins me. I am still using the first nymph and catch a number of Perch, and the occasional Rudd. I miss a lot of bites, small ones I guess.

Now and again I hook the bottom. After each cast I walk along a few passes. Then I hook the bottom again, I pull the line carefully, it moves…a fish! Through the clear water I see it is big, a Roach. First he comes towards me then fights away again. I pull the net from my back and set it ready. The rod arches beautifully.

Kneeling down I am able to bring it gently to the net. Luckily he has taken the lower nymph, deep too. Using my hook remover it is not a problem, easier also due to the de-barbed hook. I admire the fish. It’s the size of the scoop net (excluding handle), 31 cm. On his flank he has a lot of scales missing, and also his upper lip. Still a nice broad fish.

I cast the distance again and the nymphs plop into the water in about the same place. Again the line tightens, another Roach but a little smaller. This one fights more on the surface and harder than the previous. Quickly the still wet net is on the grass beside me. The fish is spotless and is a little smaller, 29 cm. He is also narrower than the other but just as nice, he lies shinning in the sun.

At five to twelve one last cast. I am careless and my nymphs get tangled in an overhanging branch. They hang there still, two hooks with copper wire. I walk back with Matthew, he had caught four Perch.

Next to our bicycles and cars I receive congratulations and the bottle of whiskey.

In the bright sunshine I cycle home.

Why are we so particular about the nymphs we want to fish with? Is that our own feeling? Is it not just as good with simple copper wire? Would we have caught more with one of our usual nymphs?

Without doubt, it can be so very simple, as Neil Patterson would say.


Ruard Janssen 3-4-2000

Greeting

Great story, Ruard! I'll be checking Google ASAP to find out what is a "bleek". EDIT: "Bleek" is apparently an alterate spelling for "bleak", a small bony fish of the carp family that lives in European lakes and streams.