Copper Nymphs.

[piscatus absentis]

Like many other on the forum I use a simple copper nymph regularly.  Just a copper body and a touch of dubbing at the head with, sometimes, a copper or gold bead.

I notice from pictures that some of you seem to have a small tail.

Has anyone compared the various options - tail/no tail - bead/no bead and noted the results?

[haresear]

I notice from pictures that some of you seem to have a small tail.

All of us Hares have small tails Bob

I started tying my non- beadhead wire nymphs as indestructible versions of the pheasant tail nymph. It made sense to keep the tail when I am trying to imitate a baetis or similar. Having said that, I often use krystal flash for the tail, so there goes the imitative approach :roll:

To get down in the water column, I have tied the odd beadhead wire nymph without a tail and they have caught too, but I have used the tailed version much more, so can't really compare results accurately.

Alex

[Crawhin]

Very nice Col. I'm with you on tails and dubbing/hackle/legs - if you've no soft material on the hook, just wire and a metal bead then you've got sparkle and shape but no life or movement. And then the wee ethical devil pops up and asks when an all metal flee becomes a spinner..hmm  :?

Cheers,

Ian

[Clan Chief]

Like those a lot. Very useful looking. I would imagine the long fibres of the hackles would give the fly lots of movement. Need to tie up some of these.Cheers.

[River Chatter]

Those spiders look great. I'll definately tie some up. Anyone know where to get orange and purple wire? You can easily guess what for.

[haresear]

Those spiders look great. I'll definately tie some up. Anyone know where to get orange and purple wire? You can easily guess what for.

UTC wire Riverchatter. Available in all good fishing tackle shops and GAC

Alex

[River Chatter]

Cheers Alex,

John (River Chatter)

[Malcolm]

Looks a good flee PA. I've just tied a couple and a variant with a few turns of grizzle hen hackle in front of the gold bead.

[haresear]

I never get bored abouttalking about copper nymphs , i catch without doubt the vast majority of my fish every season on these flies.

I catch a fair percentage of my fish on them too Col.

Bob,, that fly will undoubtedly catch fish  

Having said that, maybe I'm an impressionist in fly tying terms in that I'd go for a slimmer profile if I was trying to suggest an "olive" (remember I said most of my wire nymphs are tied without a bead). Only heptagenids like March browns (ok damsels too) present a chunky-head profile.
That in fact is another reason I use no other beads but tungsten beads. You get the weight without the bulk. If you want bulk, you can add it where you want with other materials.

Come to think of it, your fly should do well in a March brown hatch, Bob.

Alex