Wiggle Body and Realistic Nymph Patterns

[Brandon Matthews]

Hey guys, I've been chewing on these two topics for a while now. Wiggle Bodies and the need for realistic nymph patterns. I'm not sure if there needed or whether they would catch more or fewer fish. Would they be worth the time required to tie? I mean is there a need to have an exact copy of a nymph. I've tied up some wiggle bodied flies but I can't honestly say they've caught me more fish. So I was just wondering what you guys think. What are your opinions on wiggle body nymphs and what are your thoughts on realistic nymphs? Do you think there is a specific time when a realistic nymph would be far better than an impressionistic nymph?

Your thoughts?

[Mike Wisniewski]

In theory, wiggle bodies are a great idea but in practice, they have not produced very well for me.  However if you have confidence in them then that is more important than anything I could say.   One of favorite nymphs is one that I call the Peppermint Patty.   Big white tungsten bead, silver mylar, and red wire.    Nothing realistic about it but it catches fish.    Besides with my imited fly tying ability, even if I tried to tie a realistic fly, it would end up being less than realistic and I would drive my self crazy. 

Mike

[Daniel Podobed]

Brandon,

As for the realistic aspect, I have seen it done exceptionally well. Some of the more extreme cases transform into pieces of art. I could not see myself spending, realistically, more than 20 minutes on a fly. That is my maximum threshold for one fly once I have learned the pattern.

To me, the time invested is not worth it as we all know, flies come and go on a whim. I could not risk that investment being lost on an askew false cast, regardless if it caught me more fish.


I just think the investment is too high. Flies under 5 minutes are my friends. Flies between 5-10 minutes are my bread and butter. Flies over 10 minutes need to be extremely productive and necessary, and flies over 20 minutes are either never tied, or done so with variations that allow it to be achieved under 20 minutes.

I'm a beginning tier, and I am doing my best to catch up for time lost not tying. I have boxes to fill, so if I can bang out 6+ in the same time it takes to tie 1 realistic, it simply isn't worth it.

[Brandon Matthews]

I have the same stance as you Daniel. My most product patterns are tied in 3 minutes or less. However, I get a lot of requests from personal clients and several shops for some semi-realistic patterns and it just got the wheels turning. Just didn't know what everyone else thought. I also get quite a lot of requests for wiggle body Hendricksons and wiggle body iso's but I've never really had great success. It makes me wonder if guys see the patterns in books or magazines and just want to try them out or they know something I don't. One thing I learned from production tying is most guys/shops don't really know what they need or what size they need! Which I can't believe. I've had guys tell me they've been fishing for 20 years but they don't know when is the right time to use a hatch specific nymph or a hatch specific emerger. boggles my mind!

Anyways guys! Thanks for the input! Good stuff as always. Much appreciated.

[Jim Frazier]

certain times of year a realistic nymph maybe better when they are not in the "normal" feeding mode , slow pools in the winter time where they have all day to insepct your nymph.

[Mark Ferringer]

I would say that 80% of the year a guy can pound up trout on nondescript patterns and caddis variations, but May through mid-June, my rig will have a sulphur nymph in it, without a doubt.  The only other 2 mayfly hatches I truly try and imitate are the isos and the green drake.  No frenchie or hare and copper is going to be a drake and it pays big dividends to be imitative.