Is the Damsel a lure or an imitative fly

[Ardbeg]

I've always thought of the damsel as a really good imitative fly yet it seems to get called a lure.

Robbie's picture of a nymph in the gallery made me think about posting this.
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Cheers

Ardbeg

[haresear]

It depends on the dressing and the way it is fished, in my view.

A real damsel nymph is what? an inch and a half long if it is lucky and it has a tapering abdomen and a slow wriggling swimming motion.

Many "damsels" have too much marabou in the tail and this doesn't slim down to be an effective true to life imitation, so in that sense it becomes a lure in my opinion.

They will all catch fish though.

Alex

[Wildfisher]

I'm not sure it matters to be honest. A parachute Olive with a McFlylon wing post  does not look much like any living fly I have seen. It's not the size that matters, its what you do with it. 

[.D.]

..........A real damsel nymph is what? an inch and a half long if it is lucky ..........

And a real tadpole is about a centimetre and a half long.

They're all just woolly buggers with or without the palmered hackle, and with or without weight at the front. Names of artificial flies often mean next to nothing.


.D.

[.D.]

I'm not sure it matters to be honest. A parachute Olive with a McFlylon wing post  does not look much like any living fly I have seen. It's not the size that matters, its what you do with it. 

And you could easily fish a no-hackle Elk Hair Caddis on a size 14 in the coming week and pick up plenty of trout feeding on LDOs.

[Malcolm]

Freds right. put a size 10 orange hopper on a hi-d and strip it and it's a lure. Tie a minky on a size 14 hook and fish slowly and its a nymph..

[.D.]

OK.

I finally got around to knocking up a few of these  much vaunted TTs on LS 8s and 10s. Not really the kind of fly I generally tie, so it's not perfect. A bit of a pain to throw together as well, hence the blood on the vice :tears;.



I suppose they get lots of big stoneflies and "hoppers" on the kind of rivers it was originally devised for. They're not going to be a big part of a trout's diet at the surface on my local river.

So, If I fish that fly as a dry on my local river, is it a lure? :worms

And does it matter?

.D.

PS - I've read a few accounts mentioning stripping it in really quickly as a streamer, but that's a different matter.

[Wildfisher]

And does it matter?

not a fuck bit......................

All flies, like good looking women,  are lures  that may or may not lead some unfortunate creature to its doom.

Nice fly BTW .D.  I wish I had you tying skills.

[SouthFly]

Here are photo's of one of the damsels I tie, I would think that it's far from being called a lure.



I also tie some others using micro mink zonker instead of the woven marabou tail

[haresear]

Here are photo's of one of the damsels I tie, I would think that it's far from being called a lure

That is an excellent tiying Southfly and much more realistic than some "damsel nymphs". What size do you tie them, overall?

Alex