OK my fishing buddies fished circles around me this weekend using the fly pictured below. Being a die-hard-gotta tie my own-fly tier, I can't bear to use a store bought fly. I bought one below just to copy it but I'm stuck because I don't have any idea how to make that body. My local shop guessed the body is made from "trilobal chenille". Can anyone confirm that? And if so, where the heck do you buy that stuff?
you should ask him what the name of the fly is and then google it. Recipe should come up. I've seen a variation of that fly before but don't remember where.
That's a nice looking pattern for sure! Please let us know the material when you find out. And could you take another pic with the whole fly in focus?
A similar pattern is in Jim Schollmeyers Nymph book. It was tied point up with soft hackle and clipped like deer hair.
http://flytyingworld.com/PagesJ/jackpangburn.htm you might want to look at the dragon fly nymph on this page, made with craft fur and pheasant rump hackle. Jay
Well, I think I've come close but I haven't quite nailed it. Mine is the scraggly looking one on the left. I found some "CCT Body Fur" in Light Olive. When wrapped you can get a thick body by stroking the fibers back toward the bend with each tight turn, then trim the body to shape. BUT, it is clearly not the same material as my purchase pattern fly because real fly's underbody has a thicker core underneath and fuller fibers. If anyone can figure out the real body material please let me know. Thanks!
probably not trilobal chenille as your local shop suggested http://www.smallmouthflyshop.com/product/trilobal-antronn-chenille-large i think your version is quite good. until you fish your version you will never know if it performs as well as the one you bought. i would call the shop where you bought the fly and talk to them about the material.
I would say you got close enough. Perhaps packing the material in a similar fashion to spun deer hair after each turn would give the desired effect.
It looks from the picture that the body is made from "body fur", which is a synthetic "hackle" of sorts. In reality is is nothing more than a synthetic chenile that has extra long fibers with a center core. You wrap it, pull the fibers back with each wrap so you don't mash them down, and then trim the "hackle" fibers to length and shape when done.
one of the best dragon fly nymphs I've seen and/or used is the clipped deer hair gomphus bug - its a pain to tie but it produces; the gomphus is the smaller of the two basic dragonflies, aka the 'red shoulders', it is smaller and I've found the fish usually prefer it to the bigger 'darner' fly patterns. I like deer hair dyed green and a nymph hook no longer than 3/4" of an inch long, use 6/0 thread for spinning, 8/0 breaks too easily - spin as many clumps for the abdomen as possible, tie it off, trim it, spin some turns of some green webby hackle for legs, use some wire to temporarily hold them back out of the way, then tie in the head and clip it to shape, I don't bother with eyes, for several reasons (one is they don't seem to matter to the fish) - the bottom of these nymphs is flat, the abdomen is wide at the rear, tapering towards the thorax and the head is quite small, look at a natural for proportions: the deer hair is bouyant which when fished (SLOW) with a Hi D line and short leader floats the fly above the weed line - my only issue with the fly is that fish inhale it, because on a retrieve it is constantly moving away from the fish, they suck it in and often times it is found deep in their throat - use forceps to salvage the fly (and the fish) -- because the fly is usually on the move, away from the fish, the take is preceded by a 'tap', 'tap', 'tap' - when that happens pause your retrieve and give the fish a chance to take the fly - they'll take it just sitting there too, so don't be afraid to occasionally let the fly rest - great go-to pattern when the usual fare is not producing
I have used a pattern similar to this that is a bit easier to tie. It's called a Dunc's Dragon. I mix several colors of deer hair and spin them on a hook( a few splotches of chartuse seems to work well), trim to cigar shape with a few turns of pheasant rump @ the front. As Mark stated, fish on a sinking line in the weeds can be very effective. Chris
