Euro Nymphs

CDC Red Tag
CDC Red Tag
Tying Instructions
Materials: (to Order Material, click the link)      
       Andy LarkinThis pattern is attributed to Andy Larkin of Cobble Hill, Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Andy is an innovative fly tier and is also involved in competitive fly fishing. The pattern is also marketed by Fulling Mill using a design by Kieron Jenkins, who is a talented British fly tier and competitive angler for Great Britain. Currently, he is the manager of Digital Marketing at Fulling Mill. However, these patterns may have been adapted from Czech patterns that were used during fishing competitiions prior to 2010 utilizing a red tag of craft fur, a peacock herl body, and a partridge soft hackle tied behind a gold bead. A similar pattern is the Blowtorch as tied by Devon Olsen and marketed by Umpqua Feather Merchants. Devin indicates that this pattern was instrumental in his 1st and 2nd places within the 2014 World Championships.

Notes: Euro Nymphs are generally a nymph with an oversized tungsten bead and some leadfree wire behind the bead. They are tied on wide gap competition style hooks, particularly jig hooks, utilizing a sparse amount of body materials. The focus of Euro Nymphs is to sink fast to the slower currents of the bottom and stay there throughout the drift. The patterns are tied with a broad range of bead sizes to accomodate a variety of water speeds, depths, and types of water. This chart will assist you in selecting the proper bead.

To keep track of the bead weight that is being used, some will color code their flies with a thread collar. Within the above chart, you could use Orange thread for the lighter beads, Red thread for the medium beads, and Dark Brown thread for the heavy beads. This will give you three weight possibilities for each hook size. Another method is to purchase a gram scale (0.01g accuracy). These scales cost only about $20.00 and will give you an accurate weight for the nymph rig you use. I have many euro nymphs listed within the Fly Fishing the Sierra flybox such as Egan's Iron Lotus, Rainbow Warrior, and his Frenchie; Walt's Worm, Olson's Blowtorch, Perdigon, and TP's Skinny Nelson. These are streamlined and heavily weighted to reach the bottom fast. The patterns could represent mayfly or caddis nymphs or just an attractor. Other patterns such as weighted eggs, heavy stoneflies, weighted San Juan Worms or Squirmy Wormies and Mops are also used within the Euro nymph rig. The heaviest fly can be either as a point fly or a dropper depending on how you wish to present the rig within the water column. I like to keep my heaviest fly on the dropper so that both flies are bouncing off the bottom. 3 fly rigs often end up with a lot of control issues (tangles), so I try to stay with a simple 2 fly Euro rig. This is tightline nymphing. a 3 or 4 weight rod that is 10 to 11 feet long is ideal.
Below is an additonal selection of Euro Nymphs to consider:

Euro rig

Variations:

Hot Butt Nymph
Hot Butt Nymph
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Craig McDonaldThis pattern was designed by Craig McDonald, a Scottish angler and fly tier who consults with Fulling Mill. Fulling Mill markets this pattern and it has been a top producing euro nymph in many parts of the world. Basically, a quill pattern with little red butt section that acts as a trigger point for strikes.

Tungsten Assassin Jig
Tungsten Assassin Jig
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SolitudeThe Tungsten Assassin jig is a euro nymph utilizing CDC as a soft hackle. The CDC flows back along the body and trout often target this pattern as a small baitfish. It is heavily weighted with the addition of lead wire and will ride upside down near the bottom. This is an excellent pattern for dirty water conditions fishing closer to shore. The pattern is marketed by Solitude Flies which has been producing flies since 1995.

Peaches and Cream Jig
Peaches and Cream Jig
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Rich StolisThe Peaches and Cream Jig is a pattern designed by Doug Ouelette of Reno, Nevada. Doug was an early proponent of Euro-nymphing before it was known as Euro-Nymphing. Doug designed this pattern in the 1970's. The colors are typical for PMD's or Yellow Stone nymphs. Doug made the unusual twist of tying the tailing fibers upright to mimic a resting swimming nymph. However, with jig hooks, Doug came to believe that this aspect was not important since the pattern tumbled at many different angles. Doug ties this pattern very sparse and will change the color of the thread using red, olive, brown, pink, and chartreuse.

Brown Quill Jig, Hares Ear
Brown Quill Jig, Hares Ear
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Rich StolisThe Quill Jig, Hare's Ear is a pattern designed by Rich Strolis of Farmington, Connecticut; a prolific fly designer and fishing guide. Tied in many colorations, this pattern is often used as an anchor pattern on a nymph rig or used as a dropper with a dry fly.

Duracell
Duracell
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Craig McDonaldThe Duracell is another pattern created by Scottish angler Craig McDonald. Very similar to the Tungsten Assassin Jig. This fly has been popular with competitive fishing in Europe for many years. It is favored as the point fly on a French-style nymphing rig, and conveniently fishes point up to reduce bottom hang ups. A tungsten bead head means the fly drops quickly and a natural CDC hackle wound behind the head ensures just a hint of movement in the water.

Jigged Brush Hog
Jigged Brush Hog
Materials: (to Order Material, click the link)

Kevin ComptonThis pattern is a creation by Kevin Compton of Performance Flies around 2010. Kevin uses tungsten wire with a dubbing brush tool to create a nice mix of Red Fox Squirrel with Lite Brite and Copper Flash. The use of a dubbing brush has become popular due to it's impressionistic attraction. Tungsten wire tends to be brittle so I used copper wire. Using a material clamp such as the one from Hareline, you can clamp the hairs from the Squirrel hide and trim off the basal underfur. The material can be directly transferred to the dubbing brush tool and spread out. The fly is most popular during mid-summer through fall and it’s a great deep caddis pattern. Excellent fly under an indicator or fished on a Euro rig.

 

 

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