BLACK & PEACOCK SPIDER
Hook: Wet fly, sizes 10–14.
Thread: Black.
Body: Peacock herl.
Rib: Fine or medium oval silver tinsel (optional).
Hackle: Black good-quality hen or henny-cock.
With the actual natural nymph to be represented floating under one’s eye … the length of the hook’s shank necessary to give room for the thorax and abdomen can be exactly ascertained … In the representation, it is well to get the actual outline and taper as correct as possible.
G. E. M. Skues, Nymph Fishing for Chalk Stream Trout, 1939.
Three major groups of aquatic trout foods have an incomplete life cycle consisting of a egg, followed by a nymph, followed by the adult: the upwinged flies (or mayflies), or Ephemeroptera; stoneflies, or Plecoptera; dragonflies and damselflies, or Odonata. The nymph is the growing stage, so that after hatching from the egg it is minute, whereas just before the adult emerges the fully grown nymph may be very large. Some Ephemera and Hexagenia mayfly nymphs attain length up to 1 ½ inches, or 4 cm, whereas the nymph of the huge stonefly Pteronarcys calfornica, of America’s West, can exceed 2 inches, or 5 cm.
One feature of many nymphs is a slender abdomen and a thicker, rounder thorax. Thus the tying of the body is usually separated into these two components. Nymphs also develop wing buds or wing cases as they grow, and in the final stage the wing cases are very prominent and usually a darker colour than the body colour. They are often included in the tying of artificial nymphs.
While less bulky nymphs often sink fairly quickly, larger ones do not. It is therefore essential to have some weighting (provided the rules permit the used of weighted flies). If lead is permitted, wind fine lead wire down the hook shank in touching turns in larger nymphs, down the front half of the hook shank (i.e. under the thorax) in smaller patterns, or lash two or more strands of lead wire along the hook shank. If lead is not permitted, use tungsten or copper wire. Another alternative is to have a drilled metal bead fixed in place behind the hook eye (tungsten, brass, or silver or gold plated). Very heavy versions may be tied with body a lead wire underbody and a metal bead head. See also Goldheads, below.
Many of the more effective nymph patterns are general patterns and could be taken by the fish for a host of nymph species. There are also many more precise imitations.
GOLDHEADS
Goldheads are gold-plated brass beads with a hole through them so that they can be slipped over the point of the hook and pushed up against the eye. A goldhead should be held in place by several turns of thread soaked with Superglue, otherwise the bead may be forced backwards by the inertial forces during casting.
Goldheads achieved prominence in the 1980s, being promoted around the world by Dutchman Theo Bakelaar. Within a decade many flies were being tied goldhead style, as well as tungstenhead and silverhead style. The beads weighted the flies and, in the gold and silver versions (now also in colours like shocking pink!), added ‘flash’ that was said to simulate air bubbles associated with hatching nymphs. However it is clear that Goldheads are much older. The Samurai fished with Goldheads in Japan as early as 1650, their gold bead being real gold. More recently, three Goldhead flies were discovered in a box in an English stately home in 1996 that date from the end of the nineteenth century (note that the hooks are tied to gut). These flies come from an era when goldheads are absent from flytying literature. These mysterious three flies are tied as follows:
FLY 1
Tail: Golden pheasant crest.
Body: In five sections: peacock herl-red floss-peacock herl-red floss-peacock herl.
Hackle: Natural light red henny-cock.
Wing: 3 strands green peacock herl (there is no sign of any other wing material).
Head: Goldhead.
This fly is particularly fascinating because of its body, red floss and peacock herl. It recalls the ROYAL COACHMAN (see here) that was invented by American John Haily and has a body of red floss with peacock herl at front and rear. The hackle is also the same, but the rest of the fly is completely different.
FLY 2
Body: Gold bead at tip; rear fifth green peacock herl, rest orange wool.
Hackles: Dirty cream-white and ginger henny-cock, wound together.
Wing: Two cock hackles and two hen hackles, all dirty cream-white.
Head: Goldhead.
FLY 3
Body: Gold bead at tip; middle crimson; front black fine dubbing.
Hackles: Rear green; middle crimson; front black.
Wing: A natural red cock hackle tied on either side.
Head: Goldhead.
The HARE’S EAR GOLDHEAD is a typical modern goldhead dressing and may be taken by trout as freshwater shrimps (scuds) or Gammarus, caddis pupae and caddis larvae (uncased).
HARE’S EAR GOLDHEAD
Hook: Wet fly, sizes 10–12.
Thread: Brown.
Body: Hare’s ear, dubbed a bit straggly.
Rib: Fine oval gold tinsel.
Head: Goldhead.
Many of the following nymph patterns can be modified by fixing a goldhead, silverhead or tungsten bead on the hook just behind the eye.