Don's Fly Tying - The Woven Sedge Nymph


[Woven Sedge Nymph]

We have yet another opportunity to look at a woven fly that is a good still water producer. Aileen Lake located on the Okanagan Plateau east of Winfield, BC, is the place where this fly has, at least on one occasion, driven large rainbow trout into a strike frenzy! I had arrived before the main sedge hatch but there was the occasional sedge popping up to the surface. I began casting the woven sedge nymph on a sink tip line from an anchored car-topper. I allowed the fly to sink about five feet or so, then made short but sharp hand twists pulling the artificial upward. The strikes were nothing short of violent as those big rainbows slashed at the rising nymph. Now I do prefer dry flying with a floating line when the surface activity peaks but in the quiet before the storm, a sedge nymph such as the one we will examine can sometimes work wonders! You may wonder why both green and blue for the body colour? The reason is that on those plateau lakes when I have examined sedge nymphs from the stomachs of fish, they have a definite mottled green and blue body appearance!


Materials

Instructions

Cut two pieces of wool, one green and one blue, into six inch strips. Wrap each end tightly on each side of the hook shank, tying off a bit along the hook bend so that the body has a slightly curved appearance. At this point, I stand up and look directly down at my fly vice. Take the left hand piece of wool, say the green one and start the weave up the body by looping it over the shank and back through the hole, then pull it tight. In effect, you have just made a half hitch with the wool. Now do the same with the right piece, a loop over the shank then back through the hole and pull tight. Continue alternating each piece until just before the hook eye where you want to have a short length of bare hook to attach the elk hair wing. Snug the elk hair down here so that it reaches just past the end of the body, then trim the forward, short end into a round head. Where you have cinched the elk hair to the hook shank, make a couple of turns of brown hackle, ie, this will be just behind the shaped head. Tie off, cement, and you have completed the woven sedge nymph!



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