A Matter of Opinion.....

[smallieFanatic 0]

So I was thinking today about the importance of legs on Pheasant tail nymphs...some say they are important, some say they are not. It got me to thinking about some of the minute details we put on our flies. If such small details matter so much to the fish...then why doesn't the hook sticking out of the flies 'rear' matter? If the fish cares about how many tails are on his Green Drake Extended Body Parachute...why doesn't he care about the conspicuous hook potruding from its middle? Please share your thoughts on this.

 

 

 

Jan

[Arkansas Mike 0]

As far as "fishing" flies, Jan, that's a great question.

Though my flies may not look like it , I try to

get all the details as perfect as possible. Some of

these correct details are often just a matter of

taste, depending on the tyer. I just pick a tyer whose

flies I like and try to duplicate what they do...wing/tail length,

number of ribs, wings, etc. I doubt a fish would

care that much about whether or not your pheasant tail had

legs or how many tails your green drake has... I've caught

plenty of trout on hideously tied copper johns, pheasant

tails, and Prince Nymphs. Obviously, it's a little different

with dries when you start talking about balance and how the

fly sits on the surface of the water. Personally, I pay attention

to all the minute details, not for the fish, but for myself. A

pheasant tail nymph without legs would drive me crazy every

time I looked at it. I've never tied a fly I've been 100%

happy with.

 

 

Mike

[smallieFanatic 0]

Thats about what I thought. Its all about personal taste. Yet it still bugs me that if some trout are as picky as they say, that is, only eating imitations the correct size and color as the naturals, then why don't they care about that unsightly hook?

[Arkansas Mike 0]

Somebody a lot smarter than I am will have to answer

that one. :dunno:

 

 

Mike

[deeky 0]

The best answer I have gotten (and I think it was in the last Hatches) is that fish do not evaluate a fly for what might be wrong that would eliminate it as a food source. Instead, they react to triggers in a fly pattern. The trick is to figure out which trigger they are reacting to. It could be the kicking legs, or it could be size, color, movement through the water column, or shape (all of which would most likely negate the importance of legs on a nymph).

 

Case in point, I read about a pattern that was simply copper wire wrapped around the shank in the rough shape of a nymph. It was an ugly thing, but reportedly caught an aweful lot of fish. So the fish were pulling the trigger according to shape. The absence of legs didn't matter when this fly was working.

 

 

[Fly Tyer Guy 0]

Great question, I think it does make a difference, in an article I read it said that a nymph (If I remember right.) with out legs looks like a nymph rising to the top ready to emerge, it said nymphs fold their legs along their body and it almost looks like they don't have them.

 

What I might recommend is that you tie flies with dubbing thoraxes, then pick out the dubbing, if need be, to make legs.

[smallieFanatic 0]

Great anwsers guys, all of them plausable. Makes sense to me!

[blakejd 0]

Great question, I think it does make a difference, in an article I read it said that a nymph (If I remember right.) with out legs looks like a nymph rising to the top ready to emerge, it said nymphs fold their legs along their body and it almost looks like they don't have them.

 

What I might recommend is that you tie flies with dubbing thoraxes, then pick out the dubbing, if need be, to make legs.

That's an reason I've never heard. I'd be interested if anyone else has info on this theory. I've always gone by the thought that the legs were the trigger.

[day5 0]

I think 99.9% of it is presentation. 90% of that (sub surface flies) is depth. I met an old man one day while fishin for steelhead. head nasty flies tied like crap but he put them in his mouth chewed them up a bit and caught a lot of fish.

[JSzymczyk 0]

Read Ray Bergman's "Trout"... the answers are the same today as they were 70 years ago. Or 700 years ago, for that matter.

 

Bottom line is, fish are a hell of a lot less smart than we would like to believe- because they make fools of us so often, we believe they are "educated" or "picky" or "selective"-- and they CAN key in on certain things when a food source is particularly abundant. Exactly NONE of those natural food sources have a gigantic steel hook hangin' out of their a$$ though.

[Fly Tyer Guy 0]

Great question, I think it does make a difference, in an article I read it said that a nymph (If I remember right.) with out legs looks like a nymph rising to the top ready to emerge, it said nymphs fold their legs along their body and it almost looks like they don't have them.

 

What I might recommend is that you tie flies with dubbing thoraxes, then pick out the dubbing, if need be, to make legs.

That's an reason I've never heard. I'd be interested if anyone else has info on this theory. I've always gone by the thought that the legs were the trigger.

 

 

Yeah, I think it was in a Fly Tyer issue, it said that some nymphs swim to the surface, and they tuck their legs along their body so that they are more streamlined, and can maneuver better.

 

 

Edit: I just checked, it's in the summer 2008 issue of Fly Tyer, it said that the kind of nymphs that do this are darters.

[chrismartin 0]

So much comes down to presentation... far more than legs, tails and wings. If you put a legless nymph, that matches the size and profile of what he's been eating in front of a fishes nose, with a drag free drift, chances are he is going to eat it. I don't care if you've got the most realistic looking flies in the world... if the're not fished in a realistic manner, you're sunk.

[Old Hat 0]

I think 99.9% of it is presentation. 90% of that (sub surface flies) is depth. I met an old man one day while fishin for steelhead. head nasty flies tied like crap but he put them in his mouth chewed them up a bit and caught a lot of fish.

 

Bingo!