A Dozen Classic Mayfly & Attractor Patterns to Fill Your Nymph Box

Well, the groundhog just gave us his prediction for six more weeks of winter, so it looks like there is plenty of time left to stock up my fly boxes for the 2017 season.  

I'm a big fan of tying classic patterns and lately, I've been working on filling a box with twelve classic nymphs in a range of sizes and weights.  I typically fish a dropper rig with two to three nymphs at a time, so I go through them pretty quickly.  The box that I am currently filling holds 168 nymphs, so this will take me quite a while to fill, but it should last me a few seasons.  I've been trying to make time to tie a hand full of flies each evening, and I find that switching patterns and doing a couple of different styles in a session keeps it interesting.

Here they are with the recipe that I'm using for each:

1)  Pheasant Tail Nymph - Attractor Pattern

• Hook:  Mustad 9671 or equivalent 10 - 18
• Thread:  Black 6/0
• Weight:  4 - 6 turns of lead or lead substitute wire
• Tail:  3 - 6 pheasant tail fibers
• Rib:  Small copper wire counter wrapped over the abdomen
• Abdomen:  3 - 6 pheasant tail fibers wound around the hook shank
• Thorax:  2 strands of peacock herl
• Wing Case:  6 pheasant tail fibers
• Legs:  6 pheasant tail fibers

The Pheasant Tail Nymph is pretty easy to tie, but the pheasant tail fibers are a bit slippery.  I like the version with the peacock herl thorax, but you may want to tie the original with just copper wire and pheasant tail fibers.  It doesn't get much simpler than that and it catches plenty of fish.

2)  Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear Nymph  - Attractor Pattern

• Hook:  Mustad 3906 or equivalent 8 -16
• Thread:  Tan or Brown 6/0
• Weight: 4 - 8 turns of lead or lead substitute wire
• Tail:  Guard hairs from a hare's cheek
• Rib:  Small gold oval tinsel
• Abdomen:  Hare's mask dubbing
• Thorax:  Hare's mask dubbing
• Wing Case:   Mottled turkey tail
• Legs:  Brown partridge

If you have trouble tying neat flies, then this is the one for you.  GRHE's seem to work best the messier they are tied.  All that rabbit fur pulsating in the water is magic.  You can tie this in as many colors as you can find hare's mask dubbing, which is plenty!  I tied the most basic version here with natural hare's ear right off the mask.

3)  Blue Winged Olive Nymph

• Hook:  Mustad 9671 or equivalent 14 - 18
• Thread:  Olive 6/0
• Weight: 4 - 6 turns of lead or lead substitute wire
• Tail:  Lemon wood duck flank feather fibers
• Rib: Brown silk thread
• Abdomen:  Medium olive rabbit dubbing
• Thorax:  Medium olive rabbit dubbing
• Wing Case:  Goose wing quill fibers
• Legs:  Brown partridge hackle fibers

I don't think my photos do this little pattern justice.  The wood duck tails and legs really look good in person.  This pattern can be tied in a range of shades and sizes to match virtually all of the BWO hatches we see on the East Coast.

4)  Dark Hendrickson Nymph

• Hook:  Mustad 9671 or equivalent 10 - 14
• Thread:  Olive 6/0
• Weight:  4 - 6 turns of lead or lead substitute wire
• Tail:  Lemon wood duck fibers
• Rib:  Brown floss
• Abdomen:  Red fox dubbing
• Thorax:  Red fox dubbing
• Wing Case:  White-tip turkey tail segment
• Legs:  Brown partridge hackle fibers

This nymph will work for both the male and female Hendricksons.  You need to have these in your box when the Hendricksons are on the water and the fish don't seem to be coming up for the adults yet.  Try fishing this nymph while you are waiting for the dry fly action to start.

5)  Quill Gordon Nymph

• Hook:  Mustad 9671 or equivalent 10 - 14
• Thread:  Olive 6/0
• Weight:  4 - 6 turns of lead or lead substitute wire
• Tail:  Two pheasant tail fibers
• Rib:  Brown cotton thread
• Abdomen:  Beaver dubbing
• Thorax:  Beaver dubbing
• Wing Case:  Mottled turkey wing quil
• Legs:  Brown partridge hackle fibers

An early season nymph that you can try while you are waiting for the fish to start rising to the adults on the water.

6)  Isonychia Nymph

• Hook:  Mustad 9671 or equivalent 10 - 16
• Thread:  Red 6/0
• Weight:  4 - 6 turns of lead or lead substitute wire
• Tail:  Three to six pheasant tail fibers
• Shell-back:  Stripped white hackle stem over top of wing case and tied in with rib
• Rib:  Black floss
• Abdomen:  Dark red-brown dubbing
• Thorax:  Dark red-brown dubbing
• Wing Case:  Dark quill segment
• Legs:  Lemon wood duck flank fibers

Isonychia nymphs are fast swimmers.  Most of them actually crawl out on exposed rocks to hatch, so it is wise to fish these nymphs actively around the edges of the stream.  Keep an eye out for the shucks of the naturals on the rocks as you walk up to your favorite pool.

7)  Black Quill Nymph

• Hook:  Mustad 9671 or equivalent 10 - 14
• Thread:  Black 6/0
• Weight:  4 - 6 turns of lead or lead substitute wire
• Tail:  Medium dun hen hackle fibers
• Body:  Stripped peacock herl
• Thorax:  Muskrat dubbing
• Wing Case:  Dark mallard wing quill segment
• Legs:  Medium dun hen hackle fibers

The Black Quill is a lesser known insect, but a really cool looking pattern.  My photos don't do it justice here.

8)  March Brown Nymph

• Hook:  Mustad 9671 or equivalent 12 - 18
• Thread:  Rust 6/0
• Weight:  4 - 6 turns of lead or lead substitute wire
• Tail:  3 - 6 pheasant tail fibers
• Rib:  Brown thread
• Abdomen:  Red fox and amber goat dubbing
• Thorax:  Red fox and amber goat dubbing
• Wing Case:  Mottled turkey quill segment
• Legs:  Brown partridge hackle fibers

March Brown nymphs are chunky bugs that are often mistaken for small stoneflies because of their bulk and strong legs.  Look for the three tails and you will know you have a mayfly and not a stonefly when you turn over rocks.  These nymphs are very common in my local waters, so I keep a good supply in my boxes.

9)  Red Squirrel Nymph  - Attractor Pattern

• Hook:  Mustad 9672 or equivalent 6 - 10
• Thread:  Black 6/0
• Weight:  4 - 6 turns of lead or lead substitute wire
• Tail:  Hare's mask guard hair
• Rib:  Fine oval gold tinsel
• Abdomen:  Red squirrel dubbing
• Thorax:  Dark gray antron dubbing

The easiest pattern of the bunch to tie because there is no wing case and no legs.  I didn't have natural red squirrel fur, so I substituted some rust color "Squirrel Brite" dubbing, that I already had on hand, for the abdomen.  Feel free to substitute any shade you wish.  The contrasting shades and the sparkle of the tinsel rib should get the attention of the trout.

10)  Green Drake Nymph

• Hook:  Mustad 9672 or equivalent 10 - 12
• Thread:  Olive 6/0
• Weight:  4 - 6 turns of lead or lead substitute wire
• Tail:  3 - 6 pheasant tail fibers
• Rib:  Olive floss
• Abdomen:  Olive-tan dubbing
• Thorax:  Olive-tan dubbing
• Wing Case:  White-tipped turkey tail segment
• Legs:  Brown partridge hackle fibers

If you look closely at this one, you can see that I substituted DRC Spectrumized dubbing for the Olive-tan dubbing in the recipe.  After I was done tying this pattern, I found my Olive-tan dubbing that was hiding in my travel bag.  I may tie up a bunch in both shades to see if the trout prefer one over the other.  Green Drakes are burrowing nymphs, so they are not always accessible to the trout, but they are such a big meal, that they will attract the attention of some of the biggest fish in the stream.

11)  Prince Nymph  -  Attractor Pattern

• Hook:  Mustad 9671 or equivalent 4 - 10
• Thread:  Black 6/0
• Weight:  4 - 6 turns of lead or lead substitute wire
• Tail:  Two brown goose biots
• Rib:  Fine flat gold tinsel
• Abdomen:  Two peacock herls wound around the hook shank
• Thorax:  Two strands of peacock herl
• Wing Case:  Two white goose biots tied in with tips facing back
• Legs:  Brown hen hackle

A fun pattern to tie.  One hint for getting the white biots to stay on is to tie them in upside down and pointing forward before folding them back and wrapping over the butts.  This will keep them on longer.  It takes some practice to get the length looking correct, but keep with it until you get it.

12)  Zug Bug Nymph  -  Attractor Pattern

• Hook:  Mustad 9671 or equivalent 8 - 16
• Thread:  Black 6/0
• Weight:  4 - 6 turns of lead or lead substitute wire
• Tail:  Three peacock sword fibers
• Rib:  Fine flat gold tinsel
• Abdomen:  Two peacock herls wound around the hook shank
• Thorax:  Two strands of peacock herl
• Wing Case:  Lemon wood duck flank feather trimmed to a triangle shape
• Legs:  Brown hen hackle

The Zug Bug makes a good impression of an Isonychia nymph with it's three wide tails and slender abdomen.  It is fun to tie in a range of sizes and has been catching trout for decades.

Fly tying is supposed to be fun and relaxing, so don't get too hung up on finding all of the exact materials.  The originators of these patterns made due with what they had on hand and I'm sure they would have made some changes if they could see the options that we have available today in synthetics, hook styles, and beads, etc.

Of course, adding more or less weight to any of these patterns is optional and you can tie them on your favorite style hook.  I like to tie versions of the attractor patterns on jig hooks with tungsten beads.  They make good anchor flies on my two and three fly rigs.

It's fun to play around with modifying classic patterns to create something new or to solve a particular problem, such as substituting foam or CDC loop wing for the wing case to create a floating nymph for when the fish seem to be feeding just below the surface.

In the smaller sizes, these classic patterns make excellent droppers when tied off the back of a high floating dry fly such as a Stimulator.

Stay warm and keep tying.  Opening Day will be here before we know it.