The Classics: Damsel nymph

[maharg]

The Damsel Nymph
The damsel nymph provides a good food source for trout. One of the larger nymphs trout are likely to encounter in still-waters and slow moving rivers. Huge numbers migrate each summer to bank-side reeds to climb out and “hatch” into a beautiful fly. For this reason I suspect the bank angler gets the best of the sport as his fly is travelling in the right direction!

A delicate, slim nymph with a thrashing swimming style we try to imitate.
Now here is the thing!
There appear to be two camps when it comes to imitating the damsel nymph.
Camp One adopts “ lure type” pattern,
Camp Two, more imitative patterns.

Hot Head Damsel



Hook, standard or long shank 12-8.
Tail, olive marabou
Body, olive seals fur
Hackle, olive cock, palmered.
Head, hot orange bead, this one is tungsten.

Firmly in Camp one with this one!
Fished with all manner of lines, this pattern relies on colour and an undulating action to give the impression of the naturals wiggle.

More in Camp two,
I would include a simple,
pheasant tail nymph.


Also a pattern from the past,
Ivens Green and Brown


On a more generic front.
Hares ear nymph


The colour of the hares ear can be dyed in a more olive shade if required.

The use of shaped hook hooks has been tried over the years.
This type fishes upside down and wiggles through the water.


This last pattern is tied with a detatched body on a short shank hook.
Using plated flexi floss I have attempted to copy the thin wiggling body.
Using a pair of red beds as eyes hopefully provides a good trigger also.


So which camp are you in?
Any variants you would like to share?

[Scratch]

[/CENTER]

[maharg]

Very nice Rob.
Camp two then

[Scratch]

Originally Posted by maharg

Very nice Rob.
Camp two then

Eh? ! You can't get any more basic than the Barden! The one with the eyes was just a bit of a grin.

[maharg]

I ment not a great big ruddy lure with 3 inches of marabou hanging off the back and claiming to be a nymph.
The barden is more imative as camp two.
Something similair to your other offering

[atr]

I'm split between camps Maharg.I think there are times when one will outfish the other and vice versa.I think proportion is more of an issue than actual dressing.

[lhomme]

Sorry about the quality of the photograph, guys! Old one... and fished too!!
No marabou but fluff of golden olive hackle fibers, detached body on nylon, hackle tips and anthron yarn wingcase, partridge legs and burnt nylon eyes all in matching colour. What category does it go in?

Johan

[ameliasdaddy]

I've faffed about with damsels for years like many others, I'd never thought of it like that but I agree with the dressing being split into 2 camps don't know about the lure classification though, yeah I suppose with a size 8 longshank hook, giant marabou tails and 1/2 a yard of fritz but similar materials can be used with a bit more subtelty on a size 12 and for me keep them firmly in an imitive style.

Thing I've found is to imitate something that grows the size of a damsel and to make it fish as reallistic as possible, my 2 must have ingredients are a marabou tail and some sort of weight at the head. My current preference for the weight at the head is 2 small glass beads mounted on mono with the ends melted.

As to whether a marabou tail makes it a lure, don't agree, I just believe it's the best material for the job.

[Englander]

Cracking post, cracking fly you should never be without !

My favorite Damsel is my "Lite damsel" tied more nymph than lure , but with hot spots

Nymph or lure its proven its self a killer on wild Browns and Rainbows alike ...............................I came up with it when i needed an unweighted damsel pattern. And it really the only damsel pattern i use now

Enjoy..............

[Brit in a Bothy]

Speaking from personal experience - boy do those 'light damsels' of Englanders work well...the trout love them !

Nigel