Nymph Fly Patterns
by
Eugene Macri

Prince Nymph 

Nymph fly patterns are in the hundreds of thousands by now and who knows how many more will be on the market tomorrow. Nymph patterns usually fall into three groups:

Exact Imitation: This as precise as it gets where you try and match everything on the real nymph.
 
Suggestive Patterns: This is a reasonable facsimile of what you would find in nature.

Attractor Patterns: These patterns try to catch by the fish's curiosity or arousal of his evolutionary traits such as greed etc.

Most fly anglers carry all three types of in various configurations or ties. However, there are other ways and methods of categorizing some of these patterns and they include:

Deep nymphs: usually weighted with wrap or filaments of lead, copper or other materials.

Non weighted nymphs; weight can be added in the form of split shot
emerger type patterns: bottom, mid water and surface.

Caddis Fly Larva

So there are many ways to organize your fly boxes and tie or buy your patterns. One thing most fly anglers fail to understand is that you don't need to imitate everything in the stream and you don't need every pattern with you all of the time. The streams you fish will dictate to you exactly what you need and where and how to use as you learn how to be successful with nymphs. Also, most fly fisherman take for granted that the insect as described in their fancy books is that color in the stream. Nymphs and larvae vary greatly in their appearance depending upon environmental conditions in different streams. Unfortunately, most fly anglers don't realize how much variation the nymphs exhibit and this leads to some very poor pattern selection and poor fishing results.