Bead head nymphs

I am a firm believer that when fishing rivers you have to get down to where the fish are holding and also that flies particularly in faster running water should include “hot spots”. These flies satisfy both these requirements for me and consequently have a place in my Bead head fly box.

TBH Dross nymph variant

In 2018 I was introduced a fly called a Droz nymph that had skipped my attention even though it has been used for several seasons with great success in Tasmania, Victoria and even NSW. It's now one of the first river flies that I tie on.

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Perdigon (Spanish nymph) – gold micro glint

perdigon-f
A streamlined fast sinking fly that will anchor your team.

Materials

Hook Head Extra weight (optional) Thread Tail Body Thorax Coating
Hanak 300BL #14 / #16 3.0mm / 2.5mm slotted faceted gold tungsten bead 0.010 lead wire Fl fire orange UTC UV thread Coq de Leon Fibres Brown Micro Glint Black nail polish UV Resin and then Varnish.

Process

 

A
  1. Most beads have a large opening at one end and a smaller opening at the other.
  2. Slide a faceted gold tungsten bead over the point of the hook small opening first and position it behind the eye of the hook.
  3. Adding extra weight to the fly.

    On this fly my preference is to keep the bead size down a little and to add extra weight to compensate for that.

  4. The best way is to take several wraps of 0.10 mm lead wire behind the bead, worry of the excess lead wire and then to push the wraps of wire up into the rear opening of the bead.Take a length of 0.20 lead wire and push the front end into the back of the tungsten bead.

  5.  

  6. Tie your thread in behind the bead.
perdigon-a
B
  1. Wind the thread in touching turns down to the bend of the hook
perdigon-b

 

C
  1. Tie in a tail about the same length as the shank of the hook of 6 or 7 Coq de Leon hackle fibres
  2. Wind the thread back toward the bead forming a thin uniform under-body.

perdigon-c

 

D
  1. Tie in a length of brown Micro Glint behind the bead.
perdigon-d

 

E
  1. Wind the brown Micro Glint down to the 10% position of the fly leaving a hot but of thread and then wind the brown Micro Glint all the way up to behind the bead forming a cone shaped body.
perdigon-e

 

F
  1. Trim away the excess brown Micro Glint.
  2. Turn the fly over in the vice and paint on a thorax of black nail polish.
  3. When the nail polish thorax is totally dry apply a thin coat of UV epoxy to the fly taking care not to get any epoxy on the tail or in the eye of the hook.
  4. Cure the UV epoxy with a UV torch.
  5. If your UV epoxy is still a little stick, which is often the case, coat the fly with a thin layer of clear nail polish taking care not to get any nail polish on the tail or in the eye of the hook.
perdigon-f

 

TBH “inch” nymph

This fly has it's origins based on my non bead-head inch nymph fly that I started tying over 20 years ago. For about 10 years now I have been tying this bead-head version in in black, dark olive, Adams colours, claret and brown. It's a great buggy looking fly and one of the on-going inclusions in my nymph fly box.

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TBH stonefly

Stoneflies thrive in the rubble of cold well oxygenated rivers & streams. They are an available food source throughout the season and fish may feed on them to the exclusion of all other food sources particularly during hatches. The nymphs crawl along the bottom and exit the water at the stream or river edge where they hatch into stoneflies. To imitate this action the fly must be well weighted.

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TBH squirmy worm

The material that this TBH Squirmy worm fly incorporates hit the market in 2014 with gusto. There are now plenty of versions of squirmy worm flies being tied and they have turned out to be a must have fly for use in both rivers and lakes. My version incorporates a process of tying the delicate squirmy wormie material in with a thread and dubbing rope than just thread making the fly much more durable.

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Carrot wet fly

This fly came about as an extension of the idea of using very popular carrot dry fly and has turned out to be a great weighted attractor fly to use on the top or middle dropper when fishing a representation fly on the point to river fish.

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Hybrid spider nymph – Chatto’s original

This is more a class of flies rather than just one fly and is a hybrid of a spider fly and a bead head nymph with a tungsten bead up front. I carry 4 different hybrid spider nymphs in two sizes and find them particularly useful in situations where I need a bit of weight to get a fly down yet still want the anchor fly to fish well and be enticing to trout rather than just being an anchor for other flies in the team.

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TBH fuzzy wuzzy

If you went back just a few years and you a asked an average fly fisher to name his for her favorite fly chances are it would be an unweighted, or lightly weighted probably with a few turns of lead wire, Fuzzy Wuzzy. The traditional Fuzzy Wuzzy has always been useful as a river and lake fly leading up to, through and just after the spawning season. This fly just extends the application of the standard Fuzzy Wuzzy an little further and the simple addition of the tungsten bead head makes it easier to get this fly down and bumping along the bottom where the fish are.

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TBH collared hare and copper

A very effective fly yet perhaps the simplest of bead heads to tie. With elements of the hare and copper and an Adams fly in the dressing its logical that its default name became "hare and adams".

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TBH flash back PTN

Jeremy Lucas was our river coach leading up to the 2012 World Fly Fishing Championships and was very keen on thinner flies for this early season competition. I think its a great interpretation of a classic fly and commend it for your consideration.

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