Fishing: Fly of the Week — Chewy Damsebaetis

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Whether you love it or hate it, ice-off fishing can present some unique and challenging fishing opportunities on local stillwaters. As fickle as the weather is this time of year, ice-off fishing can be just as hit-and-miss. Several years ago a friend of mine, Clark Pierce, came up with a great stillwater attractor nymph he called the Damsebaetis. The fly pattern is a wonderful combination of characteristics of the common damsel fly and callibaetis nymphs found in most stillwaters. As I tend to do with a lot of flies, I came up with a variation of this pattern using a bead for the thorax and UV Chewy Skin for the body. The preferred technique for this pattern is to fish it under a slip indicator and impart a little movement as you fish it. The traditional sinking line presentation will work as well.

Imitation • Callibaetis or damsel nymph

When to use • Very effective early season on stillwaters, but works great all year.

Where • Most stillwaters.

How to fish it • Can be fished as a nymph from an indicator. But very effective when dropped from a dry fly before, during or after a hatch as an emerger.

Hook • Mustad C49S #10

Thread • UTC Ultra thread 70 olive

Tail • Brown partridge

Ribbing • Copper Brown UTC Ultrawire small

Body • Brown UV Chewy Skin

Wing case • Mottled Gold Skinny Skin with Copper Holo tinsel med

Thorax • Brown Senyo Laser yarn

Legs • Brown partridge

Eyes • 50 lb Mono (burned)

Tying Instructions

Slide the bead onto the hook and start the thread ahead of the bead right at the eye of the hook. Note that this is not the normal way to incorporate a bead into your fly patterns. Take the mono-eyes and figure-eight wrap them onto the hook securely. Snug the bead right up against the thread wraps behind the mono-eyes and pass the thread back over the bead, continuing to wrap down to the bend of the hook. Tie in the tail fibers, wire and UV chewy skin at the bend, wrapping the Chewy Skin forward and ribbing the wire over it. Tie in the Skinny Skin and tinsel at the thorax for a wing case. Dub the thorax and tie in the partridge feather, clipped in a "V" shape, for the legs. Secure the wing case over the thorax with two wraps, moving the thread over the bead and tying off the wing case materials in front of the bead. Dub around the mono-eyes, build up a small thread head in front of the eyes and whip finish.

Curtis Fry lives in Orem and ties flies "for pure necessity and as a creative outlet. I don't fool myself into thinking it is a cheaper alternative to buying flies. It's an addiction I am forced to abide." —

Online See how to tie the fly

Curtis Fry provides a tutorial at YouTube • http://bit.ly/hdE5pe