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Bill's Dangerous Damsel
Maybe because of the
weather we’ve had this spring (who knows?) the damsel hatches have been
sporadic and generally late. So, I thought it might be useful to present
another alternative when tying damsel nymph imitations—one that I know
catches fish. As I have mentioned many times in this column, simplicity is
good—the simpler the pattern, the more likely it will be tied. This pattern
is the ultimate in simplicity, requiring only two types of material—a strand
of crystal flash and some damsel-olive marabou. If that isn’t simple, I’ll
eat a plate of damsel and dragon fly nymphs—raw! I recommend that you select
your marabou carefully for this fly. Don’t buy the “shorts” or
blood-feathers as they are called. Look for the long, fluffy feathers as
that is what we will use.
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Materials
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Hook:
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Curved shank hook such
as Tiemco 2302 or Daiichi 1260, size 10
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Thread:
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Olive 6/0 or 8/0, or 70
denier flat nylon Ultra Thread
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Weight:
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5 wraps of .010” lead
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Tail:
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Damsel olive marabo
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Abdomen:
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Damsel olive marabou
wrapped with a single strand of pearl crystal flash
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Wing case:
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Damsel olive marabou
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Thorax:
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Damsel olive marabou
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Legs:
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Damsel olive marabou
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Tying instructions
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Smash the hook barb.
Wrap 5 turns of .010” lead at the thorax area.
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Tie in a bunch of long-strand marabou as a tail; the tail should extend back
around 1.5 times the shank length. The tie-in point is just above the back
end of the barb. Don’t trim the butts.
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Tie in a piece of pearl crystal flash at the same point as the tail was tied
in.
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Take the marabou and crystal flash and twist them together counter-clockwise
to form a fuzzy rope. It helps to moisten the tips of the fingers you will
be using to twist the material.
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While still holding the twisted marabou rope, take your hackle pliers and
grab the rope near your fingers. I have found that the electrical clip type
of hackle pliers work best for this task. Wind the rope forward with the
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hackle pliers until you
reach a point about 1/3 of the shank length behind the hook eye. Tie off the
rope there but don’t cut the butts (see now why we need the long marabou and
not the “shorts?”). When you tie off the rope, try to do it so that the
butts are directly on top of the hook.
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Pull the butts
rearward and tie them back in that position; they will be used as a wing
case.
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Tie in another
bunch of marabou by the tips just in front of where the wing case
marabou was tied back. Tie in another piece of crystal flash at the same
point, and twist the marabou and crystal flash as you did for the
abdomen. Wrap a nice, fluffy thorax and tie off the thorax rope about
one eye’s length behind the eye .
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Pull the wing case
marabou forward over the thorax, and then push back on it to form a
puffed-up looking wing case and tie it off just behind the eye.
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Cut another bunch
of marabou and even up the tips by grabbing them with your opposite hand
and pulling on the tips. Using scissors to even up marabou results in an
unnatural look, so just “pop” the ends off.
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Push the tips over
the eye of the hook, surrounding the eye as you do so. The tips should
extend about half way down the hook shank. Tie the bunch off just behind
the eye and whip finish.
Now get dangerous and
fish Bill’s Dangerous Damsel with an intermediate line, using slow, short
strips to imitate poor-swimming damsel nymphs.
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