Here is at last the finalised version for tying for the Glass Bead Damsel Nymph that I trialled with several members of the forum with some really spectacular results for some.
I would like to thank all who helped prove this pattern and sent back their results of the testing, without their help I would not be able to say that this is a proven fish taker. I read in TF one time that a fly is not a fly unless it has caught at least 50 fish in different circumstances and waters, well this has managed to do so easily and I feel confident enough to release it for your perusal!
First, the testimonials -
"Brief opinion of lure……Very nice smooth action in the water, very visable, gets to depth at a good pace. Very invoking early in retrieve .Brought several fish out from deep lies"
Fished in 3 venues with a total of 14 fish up to 6lbs in weight
“I have had a play at my local fishery with the new fly, I had 10 the first time I tried it, in about 1.5 hrs, second time 5 same time span, then the last time I went 8, mainly on floating line.
I also got a novice to give it a go, he usually catches 2-3 a day, he had that in a hour”
“Good news and bad news in reference to your glass bead fly. Went on a little trip to Carsington yesterday. Its a very big reservoir. Started fishing at 8.30am. By 11am.....nothing (please take into consideration having never fished there before). Tried all kinds of things, and still nothing. Out came your fly. A fish came to the fly after 10 mins. To cut a long story short. Caught 7 fish, and 6 of them were on your fly. The 7th wasn't on your fly, because, when casting toward some bank trees, it must have got caught on a sunken tree root, or something, and the only way to get free was to break myself and leave the fly on the root somewhere. My friend who was at the side of me all day, didn't catch a fish. He would maybe consider himself the slightly weaker fisherman out of the 2 of us, but not to the point where he would blank and i would have a good day.More likely he would blank and i might have 1 or 2, or i would have 7 or 8 and he would have 3 or 4. I had quite a few knocks, and he didn't really have any, while fishing something as close as possible to your fly (gold head damsel). Hope this gives you some indication of how it performs (intermediate line, figure of 8 medium retrieve).”
And from yet another tester who fished at seven different fisheries and caught at all with one going to 14 lb on a floating line, “ Good all rounder, great for Damsel fishing, would like to see more with different beads, Cheers!”
“Gave your flee a go on Saturday at Rescobie but the fish were hard on the buzzers, so it wasn't the best time. Gave it 1/2 hour without a touch but I was getting frustrated with so many feeding fish all around. Eventually decided to strip it in and put buzzers back on when a large pike (10lb +) took it right at the boat - I just about sh1t myself
Anyway had the pike on for a couple of minutes before my leader gave way.
Sorry for the brief test but at least it went out in style”
“A great little lure, I would say call it the STN - See through nymph
Had some success with it. Took three lovely fish, all rainbows to the STN !!
26th May - Carsington water - Only had one fish all evening to the STN, a few taps and pulls but only managed to connect to the one Rainbow. Floating line, long leader
4th June - Club water (4 acre pit) - took four fish, 2 to the STN and 2 to Montana - Floating line, long leader - very fast retrieve
Not had a good time of it lately, the club lake has plenty of damsels hatching off but the shallows are filling up with weed/algae scum only way to hit the fish I’ve found is with a fast retrieve to keep the flies nice and high above the weed..”
"A nice looking lure, worked quite well. I liked the CDC hackle but did not stand up to the trout's teeth for too long"
Long enough to manage 44 fish for this tester at 2 venues over 6 visits though!
On with the tying!
Assuming as always that right handed tying prevails.
Materials -
Hook - Kamasan B830 or B800 size 10
Thread - UTC Black & UTC OLive
Tail - Olive Marabou
Underbody - SIiver Mylar Tinsel
Body - Translucent Green Beads
Hackle - Mid Olive CDC
Thread up your hook with the black thread up to the start of the bend.
Catch in the silver mylar tinsel and return the thread to a point behind the eye
Follow this with the silver mylar right up to behind the eye.
Build up an 'eye' with the thread and whip finish, cutting off the thread. This step requires a little practice to get right as the first bead has to pop on to this 'eye'
Slip the eye bead onto the hook and pop into place over the eye, I use the handle end of my scissors to do this with the eye resting on the table.
Select a CDC feather with longish mobile fibres and tie this tight behind the eye bead ensuring that the fibres face towards the eye - the opposite of most tyings
Make a tapered whip finish and remove the thread
Slip on the remaining green glass beads and re-attach your thread making a stop for the beads.
Select the marabou for the tail and tie in, there is no need to tidy this up as it adds to the fly
Whip finish to a taper
Varnish at least once with SHHAN to complete the fly.
Note - you can use beads that are already silvered through the hole and omit the silver mylar stage.
The GB Damsel Nymph
Linear Mode
