Favorite patterns for Czech/Euro nymphing

[Nymphmeister]

Now that we have had a while to play with the technique, rigging & fly patterns, I'm curious what flies we are all using.

Tungsten Beadhead flies additionally weighted with lead wire have become my mainstays- mostly I'm using my favorite patterns and just adding those 2 elements to them. It's amazing how much weight a 7/64" tungsten bead coupled with 10-15 wraps of .015 lead wire will add to a #14 scud hook. I use a lot of black beads for stealth, with copper a close 2nd. I know Aaron is a big fan of nickel/silver.

Some of my go-to's are (all BH- beadhead- versions below are w/ tungsten beads):

-BH Caddis larva, mostly in olive (black bead) and Hare's Ear (copper bead) #12-16, some in bright green too (black bead)- I use Caddis larva A LOT
-Vladi Worm #4, 20 wraps of .030 lead
-BH Cased Caddis, #6-14 w/ black bead
-BH Prince Nymph #10-12
-BH PT on a scud hook #12-18- usually tied with died chocolate brown pheasant.
-BH Hare & Copper w/ black bead #10-12
-BH Fox Squirrel #10 (black bead)
-BH Czech nymph #10 in Hare's Ear w/ black bead and orange hot spot
-Brown Rubber Legs #6 weighted heavy (.025 lead, double wrapped thru thorax area)
-BH Brown Mayfly nymph #12-18 (black bead)- imitates most mayflies
-Golden Stone nymph #6-10- weighted with lead wire only it's plenty heavy

Now that we are moving into the Fall & smaller bugs with lower flows, I'll be adding a lot more smaller patterns to my rigs, in the #18-20 range to imitate Baetis/Olives and Midges. I usually fish 2 flies, with my heavier anchor on the bottom and my smaller, lighter (often unweighted or lightly weighted) above it on a short dropper. I'll be tying my favorite BWO nymphs and Midge larva/pupa with tungsten beads- WD'40's, Micro Mayflies, Barr Emergers, Crippled Midges, Holographic Blood Midges, etc. I did well with a standard olive Micro Mayfly (regular non-tungsten copper BH) last week when the trout (and bass!) were selectively feeding on small olive nymphs one afternoon- I had a heavy anchor fly on the bottom and the Micro Mayfly up top.

I'll also be working on a Tungsten Scud pattern for this Fall on the Housy, they are truly prolific in that river & very available to the trout in Fall & Winter, when other bugs are scarce. They are an almost transparent light olive/gray usually, in about a #14-16, but I've seen them from about a #10 down to a #22. Also seen some in amber with very dark blotches on the back. Any suggestions for working up a deadly pattern for this are welcome. You can PM me or put it right on this thread, or start a new thread.

For heavy Anchor flies when I REALLY need to get down, my mainstays are currently:

#6-10 BH Cased Caddis, #4 Vladi Worms, big Golden Stones & Rubber Legs, #10-12 BH Hare & Copper, #10-12 BH Princes, #10 Hare's Ear Czech nymph w/ hotspot, and #10 BH Fox Squirrel.
-all beadhead versions are tied with Tungsten beads

There are still many times when I want to fish a fly but I don't have a weighted or tungsten version in my box, so I just tie it on along with a heavier anchor pattern.

My fly selection for this is a work in progress, and this merely represents what I'm currently using. I would have more tungsten flies in my box, but this is what my time has allowed me to tie so far. I intend to eventually have tungsten & lead wire versions of all my most used nymphs. Don't be surprised if a year from now my set of flies for this has changed quite a bit.

I'm starting to play around more with fluorescent hot spots, both in the form of dubbings & thread. Always looking for a "trigger" that gets the trout to open it's mouth even when it's not actively feeding. Other hot spots/triggers you can play with including ribs of fluorescent wire, flashbacks, using Ice Dub, hot/fluorescent colored tungsten/brass/glass beads, etc. Steelhead fishermen have been playing with "hot spots" for decades now, we can learn from them.

[alanb_ct]

This is a good topic! I echo all of the above, and here is my similar breakdown. Please keep in mind that I fish 90% of the time in CT. It's amazing how simple the selections are. No real secrets here.

Droppers (all with tungsten bead):
(1) Caddis larvae in size 14-18, olive and bright green. My best all around one was a size 16 gold bead bright green. My preferred dubbing is Nature's Spirit Emergence in Caddis Green, but it's hard-to-find.
(2) Brown mayflies tied in Hare's Ear or Pheasant Tail style, sizes 14-20. I have my best luck using chocolate brown dubbing and mirage flashback. For the PTs, I really like the dyed pheasant tail in brown and olive.
(3) Glass bead flies - substitute nickel or silver colored bead. Small baetis and midges.

Anchors:
(1) Vladi worm. I tie mine with fluoroscent orange UTC 140 thread, but use dark brown size "A" rod winding thread to build taper. Also 0.030in lead.
(2) Stoneflies. My best variation is golden stones in sizes 8 and 10. I like the use of holographic gold ice dub. I also like wire versions that use alternating ginger and dark brown wire.
(3) Woody cased caddis. These worked well until around mid-spring. I tie mine with chocoloate brown acrylic yarn and a black bead.
(4) Rubber legs. After watching Aaron's FOTM video, I went rubber leg crazy! I like all black, all brown or varigated chenille. Use Spanflex medium for the legs.

For the Housy fall, I've been going Isonychia crazy, trying to develop a good bead head version. NymphMeister has a couple of 'em, and they work. I like a black bead, but the key is the dubbing. For the most recent version, I blended 5 different dubbings to get a spectrumized mahogony/chesnut brownish color. A lot of patterns you see have the super emphasized white stripe, but I think the stripe should be more subdued. I have been experimenting with the bead integrated in to the thorax, not done yet. I have a feeling that during a big emergence, all the flies will work.

[Nymphmeister]

Hey Aaron & Dejon, how about jumping in here?

[troutzilla37]

the way i see it, you can czech and euro nymph with all ur regular nymphing patterns, and what really defines czech an euro nymphing? im sure the czechs and europeans nymph the same way all the time they are proven to be very efficient anglers and adjust to the situation, i dont think they using heavy flies that are tickin bottom all the time unless perhaps if they are targeting grayling. im not trying to start argument im just saying that i think you favorite patterns for czech and euro nymphin might as well be ur favorite nymph patterns period. and that in my opinion you shouldnt limit ur "czech and euro nymphin" patterns to heavily weight tungsten flys.

[alanb_ct]

No arguments here, I agree! We've been through this on the forum before. For many of my successful nymphs this year, I simply modified some traditional dressings. I have found, however, that weighted nymphs do not foul the droppers as much as unweighted ones. When fishing typical weighted stuff, I still use the triple surgeon's knot with down leg dropper. For unweighted droppers (eggs, right now) I am using a blood knot and the perpendicular tag works better. There are endless variations to all of the above.

Not sure where you are located, but Aaron and I are tying some of these at HRO in mid-December. Perhaps you can stop by.

[troutzilla37]

oh no dont get me wrong, i love fishing weight nymphs as well but i like to cover alot of the water column, for example a three fly rig put a t-bead fly with some lead on the point (bottom) an then maybe a czech nymph or something on the middle, then maybe an egg or a softhackle at top. i have found that is an incredible way to keep in contact with ur flies and excellent for detecting strikes when "tight line nymphin" or whatever you would chose to call it . and usually i have fish take all three flys. im close to state college, pa. thanks for the invite and not to be rude but im prolly not goin to be there.

[Nymphmeister]

I think we are mostly using lighter flies than when we started, but sometimes you need 1 heavy sucker on your leader to get down in the zone! Often I use a weighted or tungsten fly to get down, and then an unweighted one above that. My weighted flies vary from light to super heavy, with most somewhere in the middle.

[jhouseman]

I used to commit the worst faux pas after fishing a beat in competition and ask fellow competitors what patterns were working for them. The answer was invariably: "pheasant tails and hares ears!" I always thought they were giving me the polite "You're such a freaking rookie, f-off, and learn not to ask stupid questions!" Well, I was partially right. The other side of it is they were actually using pheasant tales and hares ears I'm not trying to negate the importance of patterns here mind you. For some reason i thought this relevant. My patterns have become pretty basic lately. Mostly because except for a few weeks out of the year I really hate tying. Insane for a guy who fancies himself a competitive fly fisherman, eh? If I were rich I'd just hire someone to tie most of my flies. There's a lot you can do with a good coffee grinder, some lead, tungsten beads, different size hooks, variou hot spot material... and 2 simple patterns: PTs and HES.

One of the interesting things for me lately has been paying attention to dubbing mixes. Working towards holographic mixes and new spikey natural looking dubs.

If you haven't seen the following links for pattern references then you owe me a beer when we meet A few of my favorite:

http://www.danica.com/flytier/
http://www.flyforums.co.uk/showthrea...46f258&t=14091
http://ns33014.ovh.net/~dessaign/Les...s_sommaire.htm

Also, have you guys seen those true bomb cased caddis patterns? It's a streamer hook with a molded cylinder of lead - then it's rolled in 5min epoxy and coated with river gravel. Finish it with a wee collar of color. I love the theory here - steps outside the classic idea of a fly.

[Nymphmeister]

The 3rd link you posted, I met the guy- Jean-Paul. He came in our fly shop about 6 weeks ago with Roger Plourde. Nice guy, and very talented. And he has a cool website with some interesting flies on it. Y'all should check it out, ya hear now?

[Nymphmeister]

Dejon-

Didn't you get the memo? Hare's Ears & PT's no longer catch trout. In fact, just take all the ones you have, esp. any "special" ones you tied for competitions with hot spots, secret dubbing blends & the like and just mail them all to me and I will dispose of them properly. You can thank me later, I'll send you a bunch of Copper Johns & Chernobyl Ants.