Fly of the Month, Vertical versus Horizontal Legged Nymphs.

Have you ever thought why the Nymph your casting has number of legs hanging out of the chest and the they are hanging downwards when the real Nymphs clinging to rocks and sticks or swimming upwards have their legs horizontal to their bodies and only a couple on each side?

When we attempt to make the Nymph and other flies as close to natures best, why then do we make to mistake of placing a number of legs and then these legs are no where near the correct proportions to the real thing?

I couldn't find a clear or reasonable answer to the above questions and thought it was just one of the old rules nobody ever thought about and then we had the opportunity to look at some Real Nymphs constructed by a Japanese fly tier, these life like Nymphs change my way of thinking about the construction of these flies. And we now stock them.

Then I had the chance to test fish a couple of Real Nymph patterns, the results confirmed my thinking that Nymphs with funny mufti legs hanging downwards vertically was not the best means to portray nature and now with a bit of practice and patience, I tie all nymphs as nature intended them to be, with 3 legs either side and parallel to their body, the rear legs are longer than the front sets, and with a bend in most.

Over the years I observed that most fish either mover upwards or downwards to intercept a nymph, very few are on the same level in the water column, therefore they must view the legs before consuming it.

The bending/forming of the legs caused nightmares of how to form these joints; the feathers I tried either broke or had no strength and collapsed or was just impossible. And then I discovered my problem was due to the feathers I was using were all too old, they had dried out and become brittle.

Once new feathers were purchased, no problems yes the answer is that simple, almost. Now in new, I don't mean I bought a new feather, I mean the feather was taken from the bird within 6 months or less, so ask your friendly feather retailer how old his feathers are, if your about to tie legs. Or email me on unclebarry@aussiefly.com.au and I maybe able to direct to a fresh feather supplier.

The easiest and best-looking legs come from Pheasant tails, To form a leg or two, that match, tie a knot, and leave it open, so there is a loop of about 4mm, and then slowly slide it downwards till you obtain the desired thickness and distance from the end.

You can change colours with a waterproof marker pen. To tie on to your new Nymph, I have found it better if the vise is rotated at 45 degrees towards you. A very small drop of super glue type of material seems to lock the legs in place after binding into place with 2 wraps of thread, yes only 2 because after 6 legs you may end up with a 'lump' under the nymph.

Leg length, the front and rear sets, on average the body length is a proportional balance. And after a few trial and muck up it isn't too hard to form legs on # 16's. Then the field trials, the results will speak for themselves.

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Degree of Difficulty: 1 to 10, 7
Time taken: 10minutes.

Materials you will require:
Hook :This will depend on the target fish and the Nymph which they are feeding on.
Thread : Talon Unbreakable or your thread of choice, Colour: black or brown.

Body : Wire or lead underbody, with a wrap of Pheasant tail.
Tail : Pheasant tail or Hog Deer hair.
Eyes : As a substitute for lead or wire for weight, a set of Talon mini hour glass type eyes.
Wing case : Pheasant Tail.
Thorax : Talon Ratus dubbing.
Legs : Fresh Pheasant tail

Top wing :
Middle wing :
Bottom Wing :
Lower wing :
Head cement: Black

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STEPS
1.Take the Pheasant tail and cut out 6 strands and form knots in them, loosely, you will require 3 different lengths, the back legs being long, therefore pull the knots down to the desired length   2. Wrap the hook with wire or lead.
5. Fix in place the tail, tail length should be about the same as the body length.
7. Select 3 or 4 fibers from the Pheasant tail feather and bind into place at the tail section, then wind these forward to about where the wing case will be and tie off. ..8. Apply the ratus dubbing, then fix in place each leg, apply a spot of 'super' glue to the legs center, fold down the wing case and whip finish, cover the head whipping with black cement. Click on the finished fly for a larger image. To close, click the cross in the top right hand side.

Variations :
Talon mini hour glass eyes can be used for weight, with either black centers or glow in the dark centers, you will find more movement of the fly/nymph can be achieved with these eyes because the weight is concentrated on one end of the hook.

If the legs are coloured differently to the fly, this added a 'easy to see' look to your fly.

In the case of red spinner hatch, a floating nymph with red legs, eg a failed emerger can produce outstanding action.

You can cut the legs/feathers off to obtain a hard stumpy leg look, like a yabby or crawfish or have long wispy legs and add these to your caddis dries..