Nymphs or Wet Flies are so named because they imitate the Nymph stage of the various insects that hatch along the waterways that we fish. All of the Mayflies, Caddis Flies, Stone Flies, Midges etc. go through a Nymph stage in their life cycle.
The nymph stage of development of all of these insects takes place under the water.
These patterns are used when you don’t see any fish rising, but you are pretty sure they are there. They are also great for searching for fish in new and unfamiliar waters.
Nymphs account for a significant portion of a fishes diet, and are therefore important to the fly fisherman. A lot of fishermen don’t like to fish with Nymph Patterns, because it is very difficult to see when the fish takes the fly.
All that is needed however is to add a few new techniques to your fly fishing tool kit. One of techniques of course is to use a strike indicator. These little pieces of foam act both as floats and as an indicator as to when your is taken by a fish. When a fish takes the fly, the indicator will stop or sink or both. Set the hook and your fish is on.
The other easy thing to do is to use a Dry Fly as an indicator. Tie the Dry Fly to the end of your tippet and then use a couple feet of tippet and tie the nymph to the hook of your dry fly. As with the strike indicator, the Dry Fly will stop or sink when a fish takes the Nymph. The bonus part about using a Dry Fly as an indicator is that quite often, the fish will hit the Dry Fly.
Check your fishing regulations before using the two fly technique, as there are some areas where the use of more than one fly on a line is not allowed.
Some of the Search Nymph Fly Patterns include;
Beaver | Beaverpelt |
Bighole Demon | Bird’s Nest |
Blade’s Olive Nymph | Blonde Burlap |
Brassie | Breadcrust |
Brown Bomber | Brown Simulator |
Burke | Burlap |
Carrot Nymph | Casual Dress |
Cooper Bug | Crane Fly |
Crystal Back Squirrel Nymph | DDD |
Dragon Fly Nymph | Flashback Pheasant Tail |
Fledermaus | Ginger Quill |
Girdle Bug | Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear |
Gray Nymph | Halfback |
Hellgrammite | Henry’s Lake Nymph |
Ida May | Leadwing Coachman |
Leib’s Bug | Maggot |
Maroon San Juan Worm | Mono Eyed Hare’s Ear |
Martinez Nymph | Mono Eyed Hare’s Ear |
Near Enough | Peacock Simulator |
Prince Hellgrammite | Prince Nymph |
Raggle Bomb | Red San Juan Worm |
Red Squirrel Nymph | Renegade Nymph |
Riffle Devil | Sand Fly |
Schoeder’s Carrot Nymph | Smokey Alder Larva |
Stove Pipe | Tellico Nymph |
Zug Bug |