What nymph should I use?

 

The first consideration in selecting which nymph pattern to use should be the bottom composition.

With silty muddy bottoms or during high water periods after rain...Black rules! Steelhead guys who often face stained water love purple/blue uv highlights. Here in New England, a black hare's ear is a go to April fly.

With sandy bottoms you should consider tan hare's ear nymphs to be your first choice. Especially if your hatches consist of pale colored mayflies like cahills, sulfurs or yellow drakes.

Weedy bottoms calls for olive nymphes! I dye gray squirrel fur with yellow rite dye and a shot of vinegar to produce this pattern.

Rocky bottoms which are the mainstay here in New England call for a dark brown nymph. Those who have looked inside my chest box will tell you, this is my GO TO nymph. The dubbing is a red squirrel base with

assorted uv highlights.

It's wise to have size 10, 12, 14, and 16's in the color the fits your situation. The bigger flies carry more weight which will get deep faster. Thank you for the view and please stay tuned. I plan to try to make sense out of the different european techinques, where and how they may apply here. Take care and let's go fishing!

 

Top 10 Battenkill dry flies

My top ten “go to” guide dry flies for the Battenkill region.

1. Deer hair no hackle caddis 2. Yellow adams wulff

3. Spirit of Pittsford Mills 4. Ausable wulff

5. Dun usual compradun 6. Rusty usual compradun

7. CDC trico spinner 8. Rusty hackle wing spinner

9. Sulfur hackle wing spinner 10. CDC BWO

Tie one on! If they work here, they WILL work there!

UGLY BUGS & How to tie them

 

The UglyBug is a pattern I develped over the last bunch of guide seasons! 

Tie some, they are deadly, easy to tie and materials are easy to source.

Materials: 3/0 Danville (from NH) waxed color to match body

Squirrel dubbing from gray, red and fox with UV highlights. 

When collecting roadkills or bird feeder pests I freeze whole and shave

with a barber buzzer. The UV use little of this and that but REMEMBER:

LESS is MORE! 

Soft Hackle can be woodcock as shown, hungarian or hen pheasant 

Thorax/head a dark brown squirrel blend with black peacock uv

 Build up a thread base, the waxed thread helps hold the dubbing.                                         Dubbing loop and ruff it up to get that buggy look. If you get the dubbing right,                        the flash & fibers look very much like the air bubble on a hatching caddis pupa! 

 

Tie the soft hackle tip end first...wrap forward and then wrap thread back over the hackle

to fold back. All feathers have a natural bend, an inner & outer side...don't work against it.

Loose dub a head / thorax and wrap a couple thread wraps through it to firm up. 2-3 wraps

RUFF IT UP!!!! Don't be shy

The blend is like asking your grandmother for a recipe:) its a pitch of this and that

Keys>  small coffee / herb blender and a barber buzzer for 20 bucks. Frozen critter! 

UGLY BUG ~ TIE ONE ON!