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To all you trout fisherman. What is your best/most productive nymph? Trying to reorganize my main nymph box and want to take out alot of the random nymphs and fill it primarily with the best of the best. So what is your favorite nymph, and what size and colors do you like to tye them in? I know that every person and every body of water is going to yield different results, just curious and trying to get something together here.

Thanks.

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Hares ear with and without bead. A distant 2nd is a prince nymph. Sizes 14 to 18. I don't carry much more then that.

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Gold Ribbed Hares Ears. I tie them from size 8 or even 6 down to size 20. I tie some with turkey wing cases but mostly with peacock herl wing cases. I tie them traditional with hackle fiber tails or in black with goose biot tails and divided longer wing case. I might add a collar sometimes. I tie them as drake nymphs too, in brown and in olive. I already mentioned black, but most of them are brown or tan, some cinnamon and I tie them in olive. I really need no other generic nymph.

 

Second is caddis pupa. I tie them straight or curved, using guess what for dubbing ? Hares Ear Dubbing- aka rabbit ! for emergers I might add a wing of one material or another, or I might just add a collar.

 

And of course midges, midge pupa, midge emergers.

 

That's it, that's the content of my multi nymph cases. One of those above will get fish everywhere. Of course I don't stop there, because I Iike wet flies and soft hackles too. But as far a nymphs go, the above covers pretty much it for me.

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I believe that selecting particular nymph patterns depends on where and when one will employ them. This ( center column ) is a grouping of nymph patterns for the Sierras where I do the majority of my FF:

 

http://stevenojai.tripod.com/flybox.htm

 

The list covers most ( insects, other critters and attractors) that are useful during the entire season, which in some areas, is a year in length. I have almost all of them in my boxes along with a plethora of additions...laugh.png

 

 

PT/TB

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GRHE is hard to beat as a general purpose nymph. Natural, olive and black all work well in sizes 12, 14 and 16.

 

If there are a lot of mayflies where you're fishing, a Pheasant's Tail in 14, 16, 18.

 

Zebra midge in 18, 20, 22 for small mayflies and large midges. (variation, copper bead and rib over brown thread body.)

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My fav is the good ole Gold Ribbed Hares Ear. Goes back to advice I have spouted to people asking what is the best fly.

 

Any species of fish eats something that is brown and about 5/8 of an inch long.

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If you're organizing your box then keep the "best" flies in it for your area that produces for you.

 

Put the less than "best" in another box but don't forget about them. Try them in different situations.

 

I like pheasant tails, thread midges and brassies

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I have a pattern called the Clinch Witch that does awesome!Tied on a size 8-12 down eye wet fly hook.Copper rib,claret seal fur,guneia hackle.Drift it like a normal wet then quick short strips.Tried a BH version and the fish hated it!

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I've started fishing nymphs more often this year. It seems I hook into more fish with a variation of a pheasant tail in 16 or 18. bead head, flashback, plain, etc. I haven't had such success with Hares ears nymphs for some reason, maybe because i start with a PT and never move on. I fish streams and rivers in the central Sierra for trout.

 

I hear such good things about midges, but i have yet to try them (though i've tied some up and have them with me)

 

from what i've read over the years, best general nymphs are:

 

-Pheasant tail (covers dark brown)

-Hares Ear (covers light brown)

-Prince nymph

-midges (Zebra seems to be the go-to pattern)

-Some variation of a caddis-specific nymph

 

there's a lot of cross-over with patterns. a Micro Mayfly (from steve's site) can be said to be just a small PT.

 

somewhere along the line, you'll have to make room for variations like an RS2, emergers, soft hackles, etc :)

 

eric

fresno,ca.

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Personally I like to use the GRHE as originally intended. As a dry fly! I've been through the process FishForLife is going through several times. No matter how I approach it I end up with the simple idea that you need one to bump along the bottom, one for mid water, and one for near the surface. (This is for river flies anyway - using nymphs on the lochs is a different ball game). Here it is not usual, and in some places not permitted, to add weight to the leader. If it is a technique that you can use, and are happy with it opens a whole different range of options. We don't have them, therefore...

It seems to make sense to use three different flies for top middle and bottom of the water column. Starting at the bottom.

This fly was shown to me many years ago and we still do not have a name for it. If you can get depleted uranium wire to weight it do. Failing that lots of lead wire on a good heavy hook, and a brass or tungsten bead at the head.

post-43582-0-52836900-1468888432_thumb.jpg

Next comes the mid water fly. For this I use a bead head PTN. The only thing I do differently here is cover part of the bead. |his means that the reflection of the bead flashes on and off, rather than being constant.

post-43582-0-99500500-1468888274_thumb.jpg

For the unweighted nymph I use a fly of my own devising. The BiColour Nymph. It is really only a PTN, but with a very different tying method, and an effect that is, otherwise, only achieved by weaving. It is 10 years since I came up with this, and I am still tying and using it as much now as I have always done.

post-43582-0-27235000-1468888279_thumb.jpg

Those are the three I've settled on, of course you may decide on something different, but you fish somewhere different. I would though recommend that method of selecting yours.

Cheers,

C.

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I tie weighted, heavily weighted and unweighted Hares ear nymphs. And I don't stick with just the original tone of brown. Subtle changes effectively make it a different fly or so called "variation". I tie them in a couple of different browns and two different olives and one black. Three different tailing fibers, two or three different wing case materials. With and without the gold rib. And I never have tied the dry !

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I tie weighted, heavily weighted and unweighted Hares ear nymphs. And I don't stick with just the original tone of brown. Subtle changes effectively make it a different fly or so called "variation". I tie them in a couple of different browns and two different olives and one black. Three different tailing fibers, two or three different wing case materials. With and without the gold rib. And I never have tied the dry !

Totally agree, the small variations can make all the difference.

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