Slate Drake nymphs

[flyfishermanj]

Guys and Gals,

Not asking for any family secrets here, but what is your favorite Slate Drake nymph pattern? My flybox seems to be void of these and was going to start tying some.

JH

 

[OldLefty]

For my favorite pattern, see earlier post on revamping my Iso nymph.

Dave R.

 

[bigjohn58]

There was just a post on this the other week...forget where it is but go down through the posts.

 

[MKern]

I have 2: easy and hard. There are pics of them somewhere on this site.

The easy one is all ostrich and the harder one is dubbing with individual ostrich gills tied in, segment by segment.

 

[flyfishermanj]

OldLefty,

Your post is the one that got me thinking about patterns, thanks for sharing and was gonna tie some of those up.

bigjohn and Mkern,

There are a lot of Iso patterns posted here and are very spread out. Doing a search to find a variety and to try some other patterns out is a rather tedious process. Thus the reason I started a thread with the title to make future searches a little easier.


JH

 

[bigjohn58]

I just knew there was one posted recently that might help ya out. I honestly perfer an iso pattern that has the white stripe going down the length of the fly on top. Also I've noticed certain streams have different types of iso nymphs and several different sizes. I've found some that I like to tie on a caddis curve hook #10 or #12 and these do not seem to have the gills noticable. This type of iso nymph is a very quick swimmer in the water. I've also found them in Kettle as large as the green and brown drake nymphs in like a #6 and these have the gills very noticable. I honestly am not sure if the one's I've found in Kettle were Isos but they had all the characteristics of one except much larger. I tye both styles in a darker brown like a chocolate brown for dubbing.

 

[bigjohn58]

I just did a search for Iso on this site and I was going to post a link to a iso nymph I liked...here it was one you posted a while back. I thought that one was pretty good...not quite my style but I liked it quite a bit! The larger one's I tie are just about like that except maybe a hair darker.

Oh and when tying in the white stripe make sure you are using a material that shows up in the water. When I started tying I believe I used a thread that when it got wet basically disappeared into the fly and was not visible. To me that white stripe is maybe the most important part of that fly. The part that makes it stand out to the trout and recognize it as food.

 

[cranefly]

When I was struggling to find the right material one season, I started using white dental floss for the stripe, seemed to work. The trout concerned with their hygene seemed to appreciate it as well.
D

 

[flyfishermanj]

Thanks bigjohn, I was also thinking of tying some prince's in a size 10 and 12's, as well as a few zugbugs.

cranefly,

I seen a few patterns with the dental floss and a couple that used a white goose biot. Will be trying both out, though I think the floss will be a little more durable.

JH

 

[hammertime]

I use a piece of silver krystal flash for the stripe.

 

[MKern]

Here are mine.