Adding rubber legs to nymphs. Any of you use these?

"mdk77" wrote

fish any better than the standard nymph patterns?



Me answering a nymph question is pretty silly,

but G

I think it's probably true, given my VERY limited experience with rubber
legged nymphs

However,

I'd restate it to "Internal motion increases effectiveness." Rubber legs
are ONE way to achieve internal motion, but not, imho, the easiest or best
way ... except maybe in very large flies.

I don't like beadheads( their look) , but I use them because it's easy to
see how much weight the fly has in it, something I like when sight nymphing.
To my mind getting the fly ( damn near any pattern will usually work ) to
the fish's level and having him notice it before you make so many attempts
that he notices YOU and takes off is the "secret" of sight nymphing. I
find this easier with a beadhead of known sink rate than with shot/
unweighted fly when I'm casting with the need for great accuracy,
especially to fish holding mid -column or near the top ... bottom huggers
are relatively hard to miss with "too much" weight. Fishing the water
.... I generally use shot and an unweighted fly for the simple reason I
think it "looks better" and I always want to be on the bottom.

Again: I suk at nymphing and should probably be ignored.

"mdk77" wrote in message
...
The other night I read about tying fine rubber legs to standard nymph
patterns,(like Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear, Fox Squirrel, etc). It would
be easy to add legs to some of my nymph patterns, but do they really
fish any better than the standard nymph patterns?

Since I'm asking the above question, I might as well ask about adding
a bead head to these patterns too. Does the bead make them any more
effective?

Personally on nymphs I don't like rubber legs, however add them to a
Stonefly imitation and I think it makes the pattern much better. For
whatever reason, I think the rubber legs add the gravy to the fly that push
the fish to strike over a fly without.

YMMV,
JT

On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:19:51 -0800 (PST), mdk77
wrote:

The other night I read about tying fine rubber legs to standard nymph
patterns,(like Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear, Fox Squirrel, etc). It would
be easy to add legs to some of my nymph patterns, but do they really
fish any better than the standard nymph patterns?

I don't think they add anything to the fly except more expense and
another step in the tying recipe. Rubber legs tend to bend back,
unlike the natural.

Since I'm asking the above question, I might as well ask about adding
a bead head to these patterns too. Does the bead make them any more
effective?

I do not use metal beads. I like to add my own weight to the
leader/tippet and tune it for the conditions. I do, however, use
very, very small glass beads to add sparkle and color to a couple of
my ties. I'm not after weight, and they add very little. They do,
however, enhance a couple of home ties that I use in Maine. But, I do
have a couple of beadhead flies in my box simply because they have
worked for me.

Dave

On Nov 29, 10:17 pm, Dave LaCourse wrote:
On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:19:51 -0800 (PST), mdk77

wrote:
The other night I read about tying fine rubber legs to standard nymph
patterns,(like Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear, Fox Squirrel, etc). It would
be easy to add legs to some of my nymph patterns, but do they really
fish any better than the standard nymph patterns?

I don't think they add anything to the fly except more expense and
another step in the tying recipe. Rubber legs tend to bend back,
unlike the natural.



Since I'm asking the above question, I might as well ask about adding
a bead head to these patterns too. Does the bead make them any more
effective?

I do not use metal beads. I like to add my own weight to the
leader/tippet and tune it for the conditions. I do, however, use
very, very small glass beads to add sparkle and color to a couple of
my ties. I'm not after weight, and they add very little. They do,
however, enhance a couple of home ties that I use in Maine. But, I do
have a couple of beadhead flies in my box simply because they have
worked for me.

Dave

I like Rubber legged stone flies. Both black and blonde / golden. I
prefer the black, and most of our customers in Maine do too.
I order in a lot of bead head hares ear, and bead head stoneys, along
with zug bugs. Many of the local guys really like bead heads, I
personally am in the middle of the road with them.
I like bead heads the best if the water is a little murky, the copper/
brass or whatever you use, adds a little flash to get some attention,
then profiles nicely as a head. .However I feel that in crystal clear
water I am pulling fewer strikes... this however may be purely
superstition...al, is that a word?

I might also be pulling less strikes on bead heads in clear water
because I lack confidence in them and fish them less. Damn hard to get
a fish to bite a fly if you don't have it in the water.

Dragon fly nymphs work really well with rubber legs added on down here
in the Saco River, and Penobscot, when the Dragon nyphs are in the
water. I pull them along just a foot or so under the surface behind a
floating line.

Lloyd M
http://www.mainetackle.com