Pale Watery Nymphs - Hidy and Variant

[William Anderson]

I have been trying to fine tune the uses of the pre-spun bodies. This first fly Pete Hidy lists for the body "creme-colored fur (Chinese mole or Austrailian opposum) dubbed very thinly at the tail and heavy at the shoulder or thorax." These are some of my favorite compositions as well, especially fas a nymph imitation. I usually do a gradual taper to the bodies, but this is like a touch dubbed section followed by a full thorax section. I like it. If I can become more proficient with it I'll use it more often.

Pale Watery Nymph - Hidy

Hook: 15, 16 (#14 Orvis 549F - Up-Eyed Nymph hook used here)
Thread: Primrose gossamer silk
Hackle: One or not more than two turns of a darkish-blue cockerel hackle only long enough to suggest wing cases. I've used a medium dun indian hen hackle.
Tail: none
Rib: Fine gold wire half way up the body.
Body: "creme-colored fur (Chinese mole or Austrailian opposum) dubbed very thinly at the tail and heavy at the shoulder or thorax." (I've used cream tones from Austrailian opossum, being fresh out of Chinese mole. ) Pre-spun bodies on a Clark's Spinning Block.



Pale Watery Nymph - Variation

And here is a personal variation using 14/0 yellow to tie in the spun body before bringing it forward, ribbed with gold tinsel, and adding a touch more dubbing over the spun body, a shade darker of the Australian opossum to the thorax before winding the hackle. It's less nymph like than the Hidy pattern and more generic, but keeps a classic look about it.



Old Blue Dun - JL and PH

This is a version of an Old Blue Dun, used by both Leisenring and Hidy. I wish the blue-dun hackle had turned out a bit darker, but it's a fair match. I'm also without the yellow buttonhole silk, so I twisted two strands of primrose silk. The bottonhole actually makes a better impression.

Hook: 12,13,14 (Orvis 594F Up-eyed nymph hook)
Silk: Primrose yellow
Tail: Two or three glassy fibers from a rusty-blue dun cock's hackle (I've actually used a couple glassy blue-dun colored CdL Pardo fibers
Rib: One strand of yellow buttonhole twist (twisted primrose silk as substitute)
Body: Muskrat underfur spun on primrose-yellow silk, a little of the silk showing through dubbing at the tail. Pre-spun bodies on a Clark's Spinning Block.
Wings: Starling optional.



Yes, Friday is Gabrielle's birthday, but I'll be leaving VA Friday to get to Conn for the show in Danbury, so you would think I would be hustling around doing lots of other things to make sure she has a wonderful birthday before I head out. That's where I'm going right now. I cook, I bake, I sing and dance and make spa reservations...anything it takes to make things run smoothly.

w

[tie2fish]

Marvelous dressings all, william, with your unmistakable touch added to some classic patterns. Thank you for showing these to us in the midst of your husbandly duties and pre-show prep. Best wishes for Gab on her birthday and for you and Lance at the Danbury show. You two will admirably represent our membership.

[CreationBear]

Love the proportions of that last fly from an artistic (if not piscine ) point-of-view--the tail really seems to balance the fly when tied on that hook.

[letumgo]

The set of three seems appropriate, since your "juggling" so many things (birthday preparations, trip preparations, makin' dinner). Terrific job staying focused!

PS - The flies are superb, btw. When time allows, it would be nice if you could create a tutorial showing the details that went into the making of the first one. Neat technique.

[Mataura mayfly]

Great looking trio, you -my friend- are showing your love, both of fly tying and for Gab and doing very well with both. You have little to fear with the upcoming demonstration, the folk there will be blown away by the innovation and form you are able to display.
Well done and best of luck.

[William Anderson]

Thanks very much everyone. I'll write when this evening starts to slow down a bit.

[Boris]

Nice looking flies William, I could see them being effective in NZ on some waters where the nymphs are very pale even light grey translucence.

[Ruard]

Nicely done William, you can see that you are going to master the dubbing brush.

greeting

[William Anderson]

Thanks again, I have really enjoyed making all the spun body cards and thinking about dubbing blends in different ways preparing to use them to create these bodies as opposed to using them for other methods.

I am still under the gun on several fronts, but Gabrielle is well taken care of and I should have everything I need to move on toward the next few days. I'll check in, but it's a mad dash for a bit.

Does anyone else have Pale Watery pattern to post. I'd be interested in seeing some comparisons. Especially if you've used different methods to achieve them.

w

[Ruard]

I did a little bit of research in the book of Woolley: Modern trout fly dressing and found a Pale Watery Spider, changed it a bit and here it is:

hook: B175 #14
Thread: sheer pale yellow
Body: brush of yellow fruit bag thread and dubbing: 60% light Possum, 40% orange rabbit
Hackle: undercovert of French Partridge wing.



Greeting and much pleasure with the upcoming demonstration.