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Extended Body Damsel Pattern

4K views 18 replies 12 participants last post by  FinLuver 
#1 ·
Still messin' around with this pattern. I like the silhouette but just not sure if it's worth the extra time and effort necessary to create the body.

 
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#6 ·
A few years ago, Hareline sold premade damselfly nymph extended bodies and I tied a number of flies with those bodies. Sometimes they worked quite well, other times, they didn't seem to make much difference.

Evidently they never caught on because Hareline discontinued the bodies.

Regardless, I don't think you're wasting time with the pattern. Like I mentioned, sometimes the extended body damselfly nymph flies worked when others didn't.
 
#13 · (Edited)
A few years ago, Hareline sold premade damselfly nymph extended bodies and I tied a number of flies with those bodies. Sometimes they worked quite well, other times, they didn't seem to make much difference.

Evidently they never caught on because Hareline discontinued the bodies.

Regardless, I don't think you're wasting time with the pattern. Like I mentioned, sometimes the extended body damselfly nymph flies worked when others didn't.
On Georgetown Lake damsel patterns with braided nylon work great. I tie Gary Borger style. I can also catch using foam bodies or furling some materials to get the extended body. I was sad when Hareline quit making it. Charlies fly box started selling braided nylon but you have to put your own bars on it. D'sFlyes.com started manufacturing a similar product to Hareline. I haven't seen it yet. I think it is the translucence of the mono that triggers fish.

Oops, I was referring to adult bodies. For nymphs a simple marabou like Chan's Baby Damsel or Kauffman marabou work as well as any. Chans works as a leech also. I like simple.
 
#7 ·
GAT,
The abdomen looks pretty stiff; wouldn't that defeat the reason for having an extended body? While I agree with Ralph Cutter's comment that there is no way to successfully imitate the swimming movement of a damselfly nymph but, in my extended body damselfly imitations, I've always tried to use a material that offered some flexibility.
Arthropod Insect Pollinator Pest Wing
 
#9 ·
The extended bodies sold by Hareline were made with a flexible material and not really a tube. But they still don't really wiggle.

A small articulated pattern will create the best movement of a damselfly nymph I've seen so far... but normally, I just use mini marabou leech patterns when attempting to mimic the movement of a damselfly nymph.

I've watched the nymphs wiggle to the surface for quite a long time and they do stop now and then on the way to the surface. Perhaps, it is the resting phase that the more rigid extended bodies represent so the trout eat them. I know the ones I have do work from time to time so there is some reason that they do. They certainly don't wiggle as well as an articulated pattern.
 
#10 ·
The abdomen material is pine squirrel zonker strip. My inspiration for this pattern was Dale Dennis' damsel nymph and he used rabbit strip which was more difficult to use, being wider and thicker. Most of the hair is trimmed off the upper side of the strip except for a tuft at the end to represent the interlocked gills which the nymph uses as a kind of sculling oar.

GAT,
excellent observation, they only seem to be able to swim for a few inches before having to pause to rest and they are certainly as likely to be eaten then as when on the move. Personally, I have yet to see any kind of imitation, articulated or not that can even begin to simulate the frenetic swimming action of the damsel nymph. I think Cutter's comment, mentioned above, was something like, "... the movement can't be imitated, so don't bother to try."
 
#15 ·
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