humor: damsels spooning
Posts Tagged ‘damsel fly
14
Jun
17
Damsel fly…
a photo taken by my son, Tony Muncy, of an adult damsel fly setting upon his waders.
02
Apr
16
Last night…
my usually OCD dreams, gave way to a more meaningful, less fraught with frustration, event. I moved my way along the surface of a lake, and I walked the shores of a river casting the fly line with ease. Someone in my dream even asked me how I learned to cast so well. In my dream, I seriously thought of a fellow blogger, the Limp Cobra, and tried to demonstrate…this is a good sign, a signal of good things to come (not right away, because my dream didn’t factor in my pending ankle surgery in a month).
Here’s a nice little lake pattern, the Deer Hair Damsel, I tied/photo’d a few years ago.
16
Aug
15
Damsel basking…
20
Jun
15
Damsel hugging….
23
Feb
13
Damsel’s: Sleek and Seductive
While on Stillwaters fly fishing, we often see the delicate cousins of the more aggressive Dragon flies…the Damsel fly flitting about in the reeds and shoreline structures. Newly emerged they are often pretty blues, browns and greens. The subsurface life of these attractive insects is equally appealing for the fly fisher too.
The above photo of the Damsel ‘nymphs’ provides perfect detail for the fly tier looking for exactness or simplicity. Sleek, segmented, bulbous eyed, long legged and tailed one can see the proper proportions and just where the undulating damsel would have appendages,etc.
My suggestions re Damsel nymphs (Instars) is to fish them slowly amongst the shoreline structures and picture intermittent propulsions like a fish would move…wiggling, undulating. The materials you use to tie (or someone else used) will help facilitate the suggestion of life. Here is a BC piece re Damsel nymphs.
Tie up some sleek, life like Damsels and fish them with confidence. Tie them in the length range of 3/4″ to 1″ and keep them slender. Floating or Intermediate lines work best. Present them parallel to the shoreline or even swimming toward the shoreline or reeds as opposed to out into the deeper part of the lake. Study up on how the Damsel moves/propels itself. Also, imagine the journey to emerge out of the water and how you would present your pattern amidst the climbing nymphs.
This beautiful trout was caught close to a shoreline of cat tails this past Summer. An olive colored, size 10 damsel nymph fished on the drop near the reeds did the trick.
I mentioned after a recent stillwater (lake) fishing trip that I had particular fun fishing a Damsel dry pattern. In all my years I never used a Damsel dry. So good was the damsel ‘nymph’ patterns that I just stuck with them. But, a few years back, I had witnessed my son using a Damsel dry to good effect and decided if ever again in that situation I was going to give it a try.
You can barely see the Damsel Dry sticking out of the Trout’s mouth (left side)
On this recent trip I had three Damsel dries. I lost one to a tree; one to the reeds and one to a fish. Several memorable fish came to the fluttering dries before I finally lost the last one. The flies are wind resistant and make that noisy fluttering sound as they zing past your ear. The wing material (Spirit River’s Wings Mottled Lt. Dun) is air resistant. But, especially in the mornings and again in the evening, the pattern was very productive and durable.
Different wing materials could be used whether feathers or synthetic. I have just used the ‘zing wing‘ like material because it looks more realistic to me. The wings, although swept back in the photo, similar to a Damsel at rest (Damsels to rear; Dragons to the side), the wings flutter about and as the fly lands the wings take different positions in the water’s surface. I also made the wings larger than normal for floatation and attraction. In the fish photo above, the protruding fly has that bright blue hackle. I don’t have any of that right now, but I think I might add a turn of that just behind the eyes soon. I will also make more of an effort to splay the wings slightly to the side…at least for the photo op portion.
Black, 8/0 thread…size 12, 2x fine dry fly hook…Hairline Damsel Blue braid for extended abdomen…Hairline’s Senyo Laser Dub (black/blue)…wing Spirit River’s Wings & Things mottled light dun…eyes by Spirit River black mono eyes, medium size for attraction quality.
27
Sep
12
Your Special Good Karma Spot?
Do you have that special spot, or two, that is magical? A spot where positive karma abounds because of past encounters? This is a spot that borders on a love affair…just you and a fish or two. A spot that yields epic memories and the one you think of when Winter has cut you off from the spot….that special spot the gives you ‘the moment’. Most of you have one that you think of.
For want of a better name, I have always called this spot the Back Channel and the end of that channel, the Damsel Bay. This is one of my ‘spots’. Epic encounters have happened here and almost every time the Trout has won the encounter. Callibaetis hatches like I have never seen before have been visible here against the sunlight filtered through the trees. Dragons and Damsels are prolific. And, a Damsel dry fly has always….always…resulted in a sound thrashing of the fly. Reeds, weeds, brush piles, jagged rocks, lily pads and sub surface trees snags conspire against the tippet as the Trout dives for a safe refuge. That presentation, the cast and wait, with the slightest draw and twitch, results in memories that will sustain me through Winter. I do need to ties up Damsel dries this Winter too.
This beautiful Rainbow Trout came to a Damsel. It was not ‘huge’ but it was a worthy fish in the hazard prone back bay. It gave me a memory to recall. The other two kicked my skinny ass and kept my flies. I will remember them as well!
Well, of course, the photograph is a distraction…right? Beautiful fish quickly brought in and released. The fish can be over taxed with long runs and thrashing about once netted or in the shallows. This Rainbow Trout was taken on a Green Cope’s Damsel. Below are two links: one is to Tony Bishop’s piece on how to play & land a fish and the other is to video by Jerry Criss re a Damsel pattern utilizing Arctic Fox. Both pieces have very useful information.
My attachment to Dragons and Damsels is almost superstitious. I have expressed it here before. When out on stillwaters, they appear, especially the dragons, in a most aggressive way. My mind needs to attach some significance to this beyond ‘hey, dragons, you should put on a dragon fly nymph’. No, I have this sense they are a sign of good fortune and have come to wish me well. I knooooow! Bonkers. And, equally bonkers over Dragons and Damsels and for entirely more scientific reasons are the folks at the British Dragonfly Society.
