Pink & Partridge Flymph

[gingerdun]

While I finish editing my photographs from the two weeks in Montana, I thought I'd post a subtopic concerning a fly that caught fish for me there. I had tied them a long time ago, I don't remember when, and they were still in my fly wallet, never used. There was a lot of talk about fishing white flies, millers—plus I saw a lot of pale yellow Epeorus mayflies hatching. I tied pale yellow flymphs with honey dun hackles that matched the hatch, but didn't interest the trout. Then I tried these pale pink babies with partridge, and the fun started.

This scan shows three of these flymphs that survived, and were still in my wallet when I returned home. You can see that the first one was bent during battle.


Here is one of the lean Madison rainbows caught on a pink flymph. What these mountain trout lacked in weight, they made up for in strength.


Here is the essential fly, on a #14 hook, with gold rib.


The dubbing is plain embroidery yarn, pale pink, snipped with scissors to different lengths from 1/8 to 3/8"—a new technique that I've started using recently, instead of cutting everything to the same length. Easier to work with, and looks more natural.


John Shaner had me fishing a classic Partridge and Orange with fine gold rib on the Firehole with mind-bending success. These are two of the survivors.


That was the only time I caught trout on consecutive casts, as John witnessed. This got me thinking about what would make a good flymph variation. So this pink flymph is essentially the traditional gold-ribbed Partridge and Orange with the addition of pale pink dubbing. Based on this experiment, the inexpensive embroidery wool may be enough, without resorting to hare's cheek, seal, etc.

[narcodog]

Nice tye Lance, I think I'll tye some of those for the Big Horn. They love pink on it...

[tie2fish]

Really nice post, Lance. Much info and good supporting photos.

[DUBBN]

Very nice indeed.

[hankaye]

gingerdun, Howdy;

Lance, to my un or should I say slightly educated eye, I at
first thought, TUPS! ... wrong . However, I
feel the two may be close cousins.
Glad to see they worked well for you .

hank

[Roadkill]

Lance,

I think you are engaging in Pete's scientific method of observation at streamside. For your consideration look at these: http://www.west-fly-fishing.com/entomol ... uill.shtml and http://www.west-fly-fishing.com/entomol ... bert.shtml . Pink ladies were tied for his own flybox by a friend of mine who was a professional tyer. Combing his daughter's Champagne Poodle provided the dubbing with just the right pink tinges to match the hatch during selective feeding. Epeorus were a favorite hatch of mine to swing flymphs through in Eastern Oregon.

[Smuggler]

Very cool Lance. Thank you for posting this.

[gingerdun]

Thanks to everyone for the comments.

Hank, yes, the body is similar to the Tups Flymph that I contributed to the historic fly swap, but the big difference is a partridge rather than chicken hackle.

Roadkill, thanks for the links with info about the association of pink with the Epeorus mayfly. I had no idea. Just lucky. Now that I am slowly catching up, I see that you and Smuggler both posted information about the pale flies you caught fish with, including your White Miller. All in the same family with this pinkish fly. Perfect for late June on the Firehole and Madison.

I suspect that the pinkness is less important than the contrast between the pale dubbing and the darker hot orange thread. Just seeing through the pale dubbing to the darker core simulates transparency, which is probably a more important trigger than the color. But the partridge hackle seems to drive the trout wild, regardless of what else is on the hook.

[Roadkill]

gingerdun,

Before I would settle on the orange contrast being a trigger I would have to tie the same pink fly with yellow silk and fish them together in similar conditions to see if there was a decided preference for one silk color over the other. Begin testing your streamside hypothesis with your flies and you will indeed become your Father's Son on the stream.

[William Anderson]

Lance, I love this post! what a nice display of the process and a killer little fly as a result. I'm sure you won't say, but I lost count of the large slabs of rainbows you caught during the trip. This is a real beauty. I did note the swagger you took on around camp with each passing day. (just teasing one of the many very modest fisherman on the forum) These flies are certainly keepers. Good for you.

I fished and caught a couple on a similar pattern (more a cigar shaped tups body with a yellow silk rib) but when things didn't click right away, I fell back to the skimpy hares ear and partridge.