When I assisted at Hubbard’s Yellowstone Lodge in the mid 90s, I was amazed by the damselfly hatches on Merrell Lake, right on the residential or commercial property. It would in some cases appear there were a blue haze over the lake, however it was truly simply 10s of countless damselfly grownups. At any given minute, there would be 3 or 4 rainbows in the air, attempting to capture the hovering bugs.
While it was cool to fish the dun patterns, it was way more efficient to fish a damselfly nymph In truth, the fastest hour of fishing of my life happened on July 6, 1994, throughout a whiteout blizzard at the lodge. I had 2 novice anglers in my boat out on the lake, each of them fishing a damsel nymph, and they captured a trout on essentially every cast up until they were plumb faded. It most likely messed up fly fishing for them, given that they ‘d never ever have it that excellent once again.
In this fantastic video from Tim Flagler of Tightline Productions, he connects a damselfly-nymph pattern developed by Washington, D.C.-based guide Rob Snowhite. You might keep in mind Rob’s posts on this blog site, about chasing after snakeheads and hickory shad. As typical, Tim uses some cool connecting techniques for preparing products and getting them on the hook as quickly as possible.
Damselfy Nymph
Hook: Scud/pupa hook (here a Dai-Riki # 135), size 10.
Thread: Red, 8/0 or 70 denier.
Weight/eyes: Bead chain.
Flash: Rainbow Krystal Flash, 3 hairs.
Tail/body: Fluorescent chartreuse jumbo ostrich plume
Tools: Metal file, Post-It pad.
