Iso's from the Den

[DUBBN]

Doug, your photography is great! Back ground would be preference. I chose Blue because Hans uses it. There are not a lot of patterns with that color in it. The Blue is not liked by a lot of folks, but for me, it shows my patterns in the best way I know to present them.


Have fun,

Wayne

[Old Hat]

These are beautiful Doug. The attention to detail is wonderful. Yes, you must get this picture posting thing down to share these beauties.

[tie2fish]

As you kno0w, Doug, I think these are spectacular. As for the format, the photos themselves are in jepg, which would normally work. I could be wrong, but my guess is that your e-mail provider compressed them into a zip file.

[Smuggler]

Very nice Doug. I'm interested in the thorax and wing case design. Do you happen to know which species of Iso these imitate?

[redietz]

Do you happen to know which species of Iso these imitate?

According to the latest evidence, there is only one species of Isonychia in the east; sadleri and harperi are now considered synonyms for bicolor.

Since it's a Dette fly, I think we can assume it's for the east.

[DOUGSDEN]

Bob and Eric,
Wow! I couldn't have said it better! I have to admit that I am simply responding and tying and following a recipe from one of the greats, Walt Dette. One thing I have noticed is that the finished product, the nymph pattern itself, is extremely soft to the touch! All of the ingredients, sans the hook of course, have an extreme softness which goes a long way in having a trout hold on to the fly just that split second longer. Also, the general look of the nymph is rather buggy looking. Soak one in a glass or dish of water and this becomes even more apparent! As for the color....again, I am in the immitation stage of my tying career and I have already altered the color of the thorax to a darker gray than was pictured on my posting. Shame on me! Also, I racked my brain trying to come up with what I thought was the right color for the abdomen. I started out using the orig. recipe from Eric Leisers fabulous book, "The Dettes A Catskill Legend" and then I started doctoring the mixes quite a lot. It has occured to me that maybe I should go and find the natural nymph and closely look at it's features including the appx. shade of it's abdomen! Meanwhile, I settled on a dark maroon or sherry colored rabbit dubbing and it looks pretty neat even though the natural may look different! The pattern has worked on my speckled darlings (bluegill) before quite effectively and I plan on reintroducing them to Isonychia Bicolor as soon as the ice melts away and open water is a reality. I cannot speak for the trouts that are lucky enough to live where this "Slate Drake" makes it's home!
Thanks Friends,
Doug

[Eric Peper]

Here's an Isonychia nymph that I worked out several (about 40) years ago after watching the naturals (bicolor harvested from the Beaverkill) swim around in a gallon mayonaise jar for a while. The features that were most prominent to my eye were the light colored stripe on the dorsal side and the very prominent gill structure as well as the flatness of the body. I'm relying heavily on memory here for the entire dressing. This has been an evolving design, and I have been using the dressing shown for probably the past ten years

Hook: Mustad 9671 #10
Thread: Black
Underbody: 2 strips of lead wire tied parallel to sides of hook shank, overwrapped with thread and lacquered
Tail: peacock herl
Abdomen: peacock herl
Rib #1: brown ostrich herl
Rib #2: fine copper wire
Thorax: peacock herl
Wing case: Turkey tail feather
Dorsal stripe: stripped ginger hackle quill
Hackle: grizzly hen

This fly is fished with a good deal of motion as the naturals can swim about as well as most minnows



BTW, I have one of Walt Dette's Iso nymphs in a frame with a Bill Schaldach etching of Barnhart's Pool on the Beaverkill just to the left of where I am typing this. One of my most treasured pieces.

Eric