Tinsel-Bodied Nymphs

[moucheur2003 0]

Last season I had some success trying out some tinsel-bodied nymphs, a style I hadn't fished before. The ones I tried were a #14 Lightning Bug tied with silver holographic tinsel and a peacock thorax, and a #18 Rainbow Warrior variant tied with greenish-goldish pearl tinsel over a fluorescent orange thread base (which shone through the tinsel under UV light) in lieu of the standard red.

 

My success with those two patterns pricked my curiosity. A little surfing the internet reveals that there seem to be a lot of color variants of both patterns mentioned, but relatively few recipes given for them. Tonight I tried tying a Copper John with holographic copper braid instead of the standard copper wire. Who else has had good luck with tinsel-bodied nymphs? What patterns and sizes, and under what conditions?

[whatfly 0]

Oddly enough, I experimented quite a bit with tinsel-bodied nymphs, and while the chironomid patterns have worked well enough (e.g. Zebra or Blood midge with holographic tinsel), especially in lakes, the others have been quite a disappointment in terms of performance. For fishing in my area, a bright flashy fly will quite often perform worse than a pattern with just a bit of flash and more natural colors. Not always true, and keeping in mind that planters will often go after anything, but I do not have that many tinsel bodies flies in my box. The one noteworthy exception is my box for Pyramid, which contains nearly nothing but tinsel bodies (look up the "Mahalo Nymph" for an example).

[planettrout 0]

I responded to your same question over on NAFF, but forgot to mention that this pattern, tied with black, gold and brown holographic tinsel abdomens has worked really well for me.

 

 

BROWN HOLO STONE – Egry-Davies / Variant…Tilted view…

HOOK: TMC 2302,5262,5263 or Daiichi 1270, # 12-#16

THREAD: Wapsi Ultra 70 Denier, Brown for under/abdomen, Tiemco 16/0, Brown for thorax – forward

TAIL: Hareline speckled crazy legs, Olive

RIB: Copper Brown wire, sized to hook

ABDOMEN: Brown Holographic Flashabou, 2-4 strands

THORAX: Brown UV Ice Dub

WINGCASE(s): x2, Mottled Brown Thin Skin

HACKLE: Brown Hen Hackle

BEAD: Copper Tung. or Brass

Change up the ingredients for black and golden stones. I use them on both the Western and Eastern slopes of the Sierras.

PT/TB

[moucheur2003 0]

Thanks PT! With only slight tweaks that looks like it could also do double duty for some of the major mayfly nymphs here in the east.

[NohackleHS 0]

Like Whatfly I fish Pyramid lake in Nevada. For whatever reason, the Lahontan cutthroats seem to like bright, shiny flies. This is true of both chironomid patterns and mayfly patterns. Thus, many Pyramid flies use holographic tinsel and holographic flashabou as the body material. One other tinsel bodied fly that is very popular is Phil Rowley's Chromie. Its body is tied with silver tinsel. I'm guessing that the reason tinsel bodied chironomid flies are effective is that the shiny body mimics the gas bubbles that form when the insect is in the process of emerging.

[In Pursuit of Trout 0]

asdfas

[In Pursuit of Trout 0]

I use quite a few of these tinsel body nymphs- in tons of colors. The thing I would recommend first is the basic thread underbody, tinsel over body. The effect will change with every combination, and each brand of tinsel yields a very different result.

 

Here are two images- the use the same exact Veevus tinsel- the only difference is the thread color underbody changing from fl pink to black.

 

 

 

Then you get into flies that use tinsel underbodies with tubing over bodies.

 

Here is a caddis pupa with veevus tinsel underbody and caddis green tubing over the top.

 

 

 

and then you have combination bodies- with a natural underbody- either dubbing,wire, or woven floss- with tinsel overbodies for floss.Rich Strolis has a pattern called the Shimmer Stone that uses this concept. You can also do the same with flies like the Morrish Iron sally- which is sort of a copper john stone fly concept. Very cool. You use wire for the body, and every 3rd wrap you go over the top material- typically darker. I've done this with darker flash pieces and it looks great.

 

As far as times for fishing them and their effectiveness- I typically fish them deep or in turbulent water. Winter is a great time to fish bright flies in smaller sizes.

[nick2011 0]

i like tinsel bodies with a lace or uv glue overlay, they always look so versatile

[moucheur2003 0]

Thanks everyone for the replies. On my last trip to Jo-Ann's I found this stuff, which also looks pretty useful for making flashy bodies. I think I will be able to stay busy this winter.

 

http://www.joann.com/dmc-metallic-embroidery-floss-87yds/prd2579.html