FLYMPH FORUM

I tied this soft hackle version of the Lightning Bug after recently fishing the LB bead head nymph with good results.
Hook- #14 nymph
Thread- Tan monocord
Tail- Pheasant tail
Body-Mirage Tinsel
Rib- Small Gold wire
Thorax- "Droopy Dazzle" (Mixed Orange rabbit and Antron)
Hackle- Partridge

B0023592 by William Lovelace, on Flickr

That looks deadly!

RK, when and how were you fishing the LBBH? I've never fished such a dazzling fly. Total attention getter. Just curious about the best use for something like this...not that there aren't hundreds. Great fly.

William

This is the LBBH variation I tied, a #16 1xs scud hook ribbed with copper wire and tied with a SLF thorax.

B0023598 by William Lovelace, on Flickr

In the last 2 weeks I fished it in: 2 Central Oregon rivers (one a clay colored tailwater and the other a crystal clear spring creek), my local Eastern Oregon small river, and a lake at abouit 7200'. How- varied from a multiple fly cast wet fly swing or a dry/dropper dead drift in the rivers, to a varied hand twist retrieve in the high lake from a float tube.

Over the years I have used other tinsel and krystal flash bodies especially on midge pupa patterns with good results. So far the lightning bug variations have proved to be a place keeper in my boxes.

Roadkill... I dig both flies very much.....Tinsel body soft hackles have been my favorites for a while. I really like the sudtleness of your soft hackle version

Cool lookin' flies. Bet they work, too. I wonder; if I tie up a dozen and put them in a Mason jar, will I be able to read in my tent at night?

A couple years ago I tryed the Lightning Bug nymph and SH, with rather poor results. I tyed them both with Black thoraxes. Looking at your version of the LB makes me want to revisit, and try them again using your recipe.

Very well done sir!

RK, they're is something about your versions that seem like something I really would like to have in my box. I've heard several times the tinsel bodies are very effective but they seem to go beyond my arbitrary line of style, or preference, or whatever self imposed limit we all make for ourselves. I don't even need a far reaching entomological connection, usually. But I like your take on these and I'll have to give them a swim. Thanks for the info. Bright day? Evening? Turbid water? I'd be curious to hear more.

William

William Anderson wrote:RK, they're is something about your versions that seem like something I really would like to have in my box. I've heard several times the tinsel bodies are very effective but they seem to go beyond my arbitrary line of style, or preference, or whatever self imposed limit we all make for ourselves. I don't even need a far reaching entomological connection, usually. But I like your take on these and I'll have to give them a swim. Thanks for the info. Bright day? Evening? Turbid water? I'd be curious to hear more.

A couple of far reaching entomological connections...
I am a fan of the book Midge Magic, particularly the Diamond Midge with a tinsel underbody exposed to mimic the gas expanding the exoskeleton at emergence and reflecting light.
Another emerger I am fond of is LaFontaine's Halo Mayfly. Gary used orange deer hair to mimic the bright color of the fluid he said nymphs used to pump up their expanding wings as they broke out of the pupal shuck at the surface. I have done the same with Serendipities to good effect.

Bright day? Evening? Turbid water? All of the above including clear water although I tied these to especially try in some turbid rivers where suspended clay makes you think a fish shouldn't be able to even see a small fly 1 foot in front of it. Like many other flies and days, variation in movement or depth can be a key. At one point I added the beadhead version to the middle or end of the cast to change the effective depth of the soft hackles. A wind drift was also a key to the LBBH for some time on the lake.

Dubbn
I have used an orange color thorax here instead of the original peacock herl following that same hot spot kind of logic that has also applied well for me in some scud patterns and other flies. I originally saw the pattern in an Orvis newsletter and my nymph is more similar to that than the original 20 year old pattern. The next ones I tie will have a rusty Zelon tail to try for durability as compared to the pheasant tail-less versions I have on my drying patch courtesy of some fish the last 2 days.

Very nice soft hackle! Me likey!!!