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3. Flymphs?

Been a while since I've posted anything!

Anyway, I'm slowly filling my fly-boxes for the impending season- the usual nymph/emerger/dun/spinner routine with a wet thrown in now and then.
I've seen Flymphs in magazine articles and tying manuals, never tied one though- maybe I thought they were just a spin-off of wet flies?
Any tyers and fishers out there tie and use Flymphs regularly? I do plan on tying some in the most common hatches for W Michigan, just curious what others think of Flymphs.
BTW...as I type this I'm looking outside at sleet and freezing rain, to be followed by 4" of wet snow (again) by morning. sigh.

Think Spring!

The Roguerat

I Peter 5:7 'Cast your cares upon Him.."

I can call my soft hackles a flymph very easy without any embarrassment. The ability to cover water, fish a riffle and catch fish given the fly is DRAGGING is a decided advantage over other patterns that need to be dead drifted. I call it a controlled drag. I even speak in math terms as to the distance you can fish a controlled drag fly, say making a 30ft. perpendicular to he current cast. That 30ft becomes a radius to a circle and the distance can then be "closely" calculated. All of my soft hackles contain a bead at the front for a number of reasons, not just the attraction of a bead. They are the foundation of my fly fishing approach, and now, using the same concept, same tying methods, I am tying a series of minnow patterns since our big brown trout feed heavily on whitefish minnows.

Just curious as to why you would want to calculate the distance of a drift?

Sayfu,

No offense, I started drifting (pun not intended) back to Sine, Cosine, and Tangent when you mentioned math terms...

Seriously, you are spot-on describing the arc of a wet-fly swing as it moves down and across- a very good way to cover water with the benefit of estimating where the next cast will cover!
I'll employ this-with your blessing- when I try to out-fish my buddy Chad, aka The Trout Whisperer. He swears by, and sometimes at, dries ONLY when I've used traditional wets if they're working better than a topside presentation.
I've dug out some Flymph patterns, going to hit the vise tonight while the freezing rain beats against the windows...again.

The Roguerat

I Peter 5:7 'Cast your cares upon Him...'

A wet fly swing can be described mathematically. I finally came to really understand the dynamics by playing with empirically measurements of arcs cut in wet fly/drift.

More directly to the topic, a flymph is a nymph with a short soft hackle -a wet fly nymph hybrid. Could probably fill your subsurface box with such things and be happy on any insect-fed stream anywhere.

Greetings,
You are talking to fly fisher who has tying and fishing flymphs since 1972. These flies are amazing, and if you not using them, you are missing fish you should be catching. I use wingless wet flies almost exclusively since they are very versatile.

The term flymph was first used by Vern"Pete" Hidy, a friend a student of James Leisenring, wet fly master and bachelor of the Brodhead. It signifies a hatching or emerging insect. Hidy was very specific regarding it's make-up and construction. The body was constructed so that the silk used to create the dubbing brush showed through the fur or wool, especially, but not limited to the tail-end of the body. The hackle used was soft- to medium soft. The goal was to create a fly that appeared ALIVE!

Flymphs are often tied on light wire hooks and fished upstream very much like a dry fly, and on heavier hooks can be used to simulate insects which are emerging when fished correctly.

There are many great patterns, some which imitate well-known fly hatches. Do an online search, and I'm sure you will find my site which lists many. To throw you a bone, here's a few:


Double Olive Flymph
Hook: Mustad 3399A
Thread: Pale olive Gossamer
Hackle: Medium creamy dun hen
Body: Dark Olive Hare's Mask dubbed Leisenring style on the pale olive Gossamer. Leave a little thread showing at the tail end.


Ginger Spider
Hook: Daiichi 1530 #12
Thread: Orange Uni 8/0
Hackle: Medium Ginger Hen
Rib: Fine copper wire
Body: Ginger colored Hare's Mask, dubbed Leisenring fashion onto orange 8/0 Uni-Thread.


Native American Flymph
Hook: Daiichi 1550 #12 or similar
Thread: 8/0 Uni Thread-Orange
Hackle: Ruffed Grouse-Lesser Coveret
Ribbing: Fine copper wire
Body: American Pine Squirrel dubbed using the Leisenring method on Orange Uni Thread


If you have questions, feel free to ask.

Mark

To demonstrate the efficiency of fishing such a fly design. A 30 ft cast doesn't even have to be performed that well, as it becomes a mend, follow with the rod, and the swing of the fly. That 30 ft. cast translates to a 60 ft. diameter of the circle times 3 if you round off Pi (3.1416 etc.) Your effective fishing distance then becomes 180 divided by 4 or 45 ft basically of effective fishing distance. It has enabled me to take youngsters fly angling, and catch their first trout on the fly, and some many, many more in a day. It takes time to be able to cast a dry fly, land it properly, and fish it drag free, and your effective distance may only be a foot or so, and then you are back false casting, and placing the fly in again. I've fished poor casters in a wind storm, and we've splashed out awkward, low roll casts, and caught lots of fish when other good fly anglers were packing it in for the day. On one occasion I fished a youngster, and was so excited to watch him catch his first trout on a fly then only to experience a number of fishless casts between us in a run I knew held lots of cutthroat trout. Then the answer which makes the system fun to fish...at the end of our drift the key was to not strip in, and cast again, but to strip/stop with a pause, then short strip again. Fish would follow, and not take, but would grab the fly that day when the bug seemed to be emerging. And the method is the same method as swinging a steelhead fly.

Softhackle,

I visited your website after a PM suggested I do so, and plan to make checking this a regular part of my online routine.
Great info, great pictures, and now Flymphs will have a place in my fly-boxes come spring.

The Roguerat

I Peter 5:7 'Cast your cares upon Him...'

Beautiful, Mark.

As I've mentioned here before I'm working on what I call the Libertone Box or also known as the Libertone Project...It went from Box to Project when he keeps adding new flies...:)

The Libertone Box was to be a copy of all the flies on his web page...It is meant as a nod to our very own master softhackle craftsman, Mark "Softhackle" Libertone. Well...He keeps adding flies, so I've decided to keep up with the original intent, but the box, now boxes, will included all the softhackle flies I've tied.

This box is going to go with me on my trips this season and those following that I may be lucky enough to fish. It's going to Grayling in May, and Montana in August, and on my secret trip in April. In Montana I hope to stop in and visit with Mark's friend Jim Slattery at his shop near West Yellowstone.

When I find the proper box for the project and get some more flies tied I'll post it...I have been squeezing in the softhackles between my normal dry fly stuff...Like the olive above, one of the flies I've completed is Big Jim Leisenring's Iron Blue Nymph, and the dubbing process is similar...I have used mole and the thread color shows through to nice effect.

Wonderful flies Mark!

Spence

I have posted the dressings under each fly photo, above, as requested.

Have fun, Spence!

Mark

:) Thank you sir! I'll never be free from the bench...;)

Spence

Mark, those flies are beautiful!

Mark, those are nice. I've been tying mine with the body going back to the barb, is that wrong?

Strmanglr,
I have seen wingless wets tied many ways, and I really don't think there is a right or wrong. I like my body end to be even with a midpoint between the barb points, front and rear on regular wet fly hooks. This seems to look the best to me-aesthetically. I have tied flies of this type, where the body extends beyond this point, but the hooks were special hooks like rounded nymph hooks or emerger style as in this one.


Orange Caped Witch

Hope this helps. Sorry it took a bit to answer.
Mark

Mark,

Even the casual observer can see your art background in your ties. The proportions are so spot-on...

I see you have mastered that "Euro" corded thread procedure...:) Hansi würde stolz sein! :)

Spence