Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Tying Vinnie's Isonychia Nymph

This is what we are tying in anticipation of Autumn fishing; its a pattern my buddy Vincent came up with some years ago that works quite well.  You can tie it as shown, or wrap some wire weight along the shank to give it some mass so it gets down quickly in the fast runs and pockets where the naturals are found.  I tie it both with and without weight - for the weighted ones I tie in a short length of red thread on the bottom of the head so I can tell which is which.  If you like to fish two flies, a weighted Iso nymph is a great anchor fly.  For your dropper fly, go with something small like a pheasant tail, RS2 or some other midge pattern you have confidence in.


Any 2X long nymph hook in sizes #10-14 will do.  And yes, I used 6/0 Danville black thread......sometimes you have to give the olive thread a day off.

Sharpen your hooks!   

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's an old video, or did you give up on the Regal?

Matt Grobert said...

Old? Earlier in the series is more like it. Even Tim has switched to the Regal - they work well and couldn't be more practical for what their intended purpose is.

Anonymous said...

Matt thanks again for sharing another great fly pattern & video with us. Funny how some guys will focus the video being "old" or the type of vise...some people just don't get it!

Anonymous said...

Why is that pattern so good?

Matt Grobert said...

The pattern works well becasue it imitates the Isonychia nymph, which is very abundant and found in most Eastern freestone rivers and streams. It is a swimmer and is often found in the water column moving about, as opposed to the clingers that hold tight to the bottom of rocks, or burrowers that live in the silt or sandy bottoms.

Anonymous said...

I met Vinnie at one of the RRTU fly tying nights. I saw him tie that pattern and another one of his Caddis patterns. He has a unique way tying of each of them...never saw it before and can not find anyone online who does it that way. Can you help?