I love collecting flies, fly patterns, and have a head full of esoterica that’ll make me the bane of your next cocktail gathering.
Earlier this week I had asked Singlebarbed lurkers what their favorite nymphs were – hoping to complete some flies owed to pals. “Curly Friede” made the mistake of mentioning some I had never heard of – he wasn’t alone, but an entire series of flies made it double alluring.
Curly followed up with the pattern descriptions for the “Nondescript” nymph series, and as I was headed out to the Little Stinking anyways, so I banged out four or five to see how they performed.
While a self confessed fly junkie, my weakness is simple buggy looking flies, fast to tie, simple pattern – allowing you to knock out twenty seven of them in the time it takes to craft two complex ties.
Some might call these “soft hackles” or “flymphs” – they looked good, so I put them in front of some fish to see how good.
Actually I put these in front of bushes and fish, as I left most of them on branches, logs, small children, and anything else within casting distance.
Must be the nine turns of 1-Amp fuse wire I used, the resultant gravity well warped the Space-Time Continuum, inducing a brush-hungry tilt to my casts.
I did manage to pick up a half dozen fish in quick succession, might’ve been more if I hadn’t squandered all them flies on foreign objects. Curly was probably giggling up a storm, knowing that the finished fly defies physics – it’s the perfect herbivore, and that’ll be the last time I follow his patterns to the letter.
I left one in a Smallmouth bass, nearly two pounds – the largest smallmouth the Little Stinking has produced to date, so I was thrilled. I was trying to “lip” the fish so he could pose for Curly, and he proved shy – taking my last Nondescript Black with him.
The name lacks retail sex, so we’ll have to polish Curly’s lexicon accordingly. I’m thinking the “Chlorophyl Alien” or “Brush Eating Di-Lithium Crystal” – something with some pizzazz..
Technorati Tags: nondescript nymph, brownlining, flies
Those are some nice looking bugs. I like the sparse profile.
One of the minor advantages of loosing flies to trees in December is being able to pass it off as outdoor decorating.
Smallies? There’s smallies in there?
You need the Carey Special series. Zen flies for the existential minimalist.
hey…that bargain wire looks intimidatingly fat. Think…vulnerable.
I suppose it was the “bargain wire” that induced the brush eating spin?
I ain’t buying it…
Spin’s what induces those reckless attacks – sorta works like a salmon trolling lure.
I’m scared to ask about the Carey Special, somehow I just know that I won’t be able to sit for a week. I’m not falling for another physics lesson.
The Carey’s lethal, exquisite simplicity – looks like a sculpin, leech, dragon or damselfly nymph, crayfish,Hex emerger – anything – and only takes 2 seconds to tie – classic good looks – been a staple in B.C. since the 1920’s – can be tied with any body material imagineable. Keeled-down killer. Should be illegal, really.
The Carey Specials? There are no such flies, and if there were, they certainly wouldn’t be my Secret Stillwater Weapons That I Only Tie On When Nobody’s Looking.
Never heard of ’em. And neither — if you know what’s good for you — have you.
My lips are sealed.