We sit here at ESF amazed by how each month Nick Thomas comes up with such interesting and innovative fly patterns. Here are some more so ladies and gentlemen, fire up your vices!
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
Leonardo da Vinci
“Nature is pleased with simplicity. And nature is no dummy.”
Isaac Newton
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
Albert Einstein
I enjoy tying complex and intricate fly patterns; sometimes I'll even fish with them. But if I'm going to be fishing with confidence in a difficult situation where I’m likely to lose a few flies to trees or underwater snags, then I like not to be worrying about how long it took me to tie the flies or how much they cost.
I’m not sure if Messrs da Vinci, Newton, or Einstein ever spent time at the vice or even wet a line as a break from divining the rules of the universe, but if they did I think they would all be firm advocates of keeping things simple. To my mind simplicity in fly tying is all about suggestion; using a minimum number of materials and tying steps to produce a fly that will pass a reasonably close inspection and be accepted as being edible.
Regular readers of ESF (all of you I hope) will know that I’m a great fan of using organza ribbon for tying a wide variety of flies for fresh and salt water (see ‘Get Your OJO Working’ in ESF issue 33 for further details of working with organza). Recently I’ve been experimenting with using organza in a different way to tie up some Czech style nymphs for fishing the Taff and other rivers for grayling and trout. Normally organza is stripped before tying in to produce a synthetic hackle or herl like strand for wrapping bodies. The Czojo design of Czech nymph uses organza in two forms; unstripped ribbon for the abdomen and stripped ribbon for the thorax and legs. This creates a pattern suggestive of a variety of nymphs including cased and non-cased caddis larvae.
Using organza fulfils a fundamental requirement of Czech nymphs; hydrodynamic streamlining to allow the flies to sink quickly in a fast current, while also providing a degree of texture and sparkle which suggest bugginess which are not provided by completely smooth body materials. The tightly wrapped body over lead foil also has sufficient rigidity and density not to dampen the tapping of the Czojo as it drifts along the bottom in the current.
Czojos are therefore ideal for Czech nymphing using a long braid leader. I use 20 feet of orange Airflow Micro Poly 20lb fly line backing knotted to 5 feet of 15lb Drennan super specialist micro braid terminating in a 2mm stainless steel ring for attachment of a 2 or 3 fly dropper rig tied in 3 feet of 5lb fluorocarbon. The orange braid has a perfection loop tied in the butt end to attach to my fly line by a loop to loop connection. If I’m keeping the leader on a fly reel between sessions I pass a thin rubber band through the tippet ring and fit this over the reel seat. There’s nothing more frustrating than having to fiddle around on the bank to retrieve the end of the leader from among the fly line and then threading up your rod only to discover that you’ve crossed a coil and the reel locks up. Keeping things simple and easy doesn’t just apply to tying flies.
Hook: Czech Nymph barbless size 8-14
Thread: Veevus 10/0 white (coloured as required with a permanent marker pen)
Underbody: Self-adhesive lead foil and floss
Abdomen: Organza ribbon
Thorax: Stripped organza ribbon
- Cut a 2 mm strip of lead foil and wrap the hook in touching turns to build up one, two or three layers of lead depending on the desired weight. Start and finish each layer a little short of the previous layer to build a tapered body profile.
- Run on the tying thread at the eye and take around the bend beyond the lead wraps.
- Cut a 3-5mm wide strip of organza ribbon around 15cm long and catch in well past the bend. At the same point catch in a 15 cm length of floss or yarn.
- Wind the floss forward under tension to spread the floss to smooth out any lumps and bumps in the lead underbody, tie in behind the eye and trim away the excess.
- Wind the organza forward in tight overlapping turns to form a smooth segmented abdomen over the underbody. Leave a space for tying the thorax, tie in and trim away the excess.
- Cut a 3-5mm wide strip of organza from a 10cm length of ribbon and strip out the long fibres (see ESF issue 33 for how to prepare the ribbon). Tie in and take the thread forward to just behind the eye.
- Wrap the stripped organza forward in touching turns allowing the short fibres to splay out around the hook. Tie in at the eye and trim off the excess.
- Build a small head with tying thread and whip finish. Colour the head with a permanent marker pen as required and seal with head cement or superglue.
- Trim away the projecting organza fibres from the top and sides of the thorax to leave just the fibres on the underside to represent legs.
Further variations in design can be achieved by colouring the upper side of the abdomen of pale coloured Czojos with marker pens. If you want you can add a shellback effect coat the upper side of the Czojo with UV resin or a thick head cement; I use Loon Hard Head. Varnished back Czojos can be tied in extra heavy versions with additional layers of lead foil or wire applied to the back of the body over the foil wraps. This ensures that the fly fishes point up with the hard back transmitting the tapping of the fly on stones and gravel up the braid to looped over your finger.
When you wind the organza for the abdomen there are two ways to do it; cut edge forward or cut edge trailing. These give slightly different effects, if you tie in the ribbon with the cut edge upwards and wind the body in overlapping turns the woven edge of the ribbon will cover the cut ends of the preceding turn giving a smoother body than winding the opposite way. Experiment to find your preference. Remember – three of the greatest minds that ever lived were constantly experimenting to find the simplest solutions.
Nick Thomas lives in South Wales. He started fly fishing on Scottish hill lochs many years ago and continues to design, tie and fish flies for trout, carp, bass and anything else that’s going.