The GoldNugget
On
Western streams and rivers, fishing a golden stone pattern as
a searching nymph can yield surprising results when no other pattern
will seem to work. This little pattern will sink just like a beadhead
and will imitate the colors a golden stone nymph has, almost to
perfection. Follow the tying sequences below to make your own!
By
Steve Schweitzer
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What do trout actually see?
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Through water and with sunlight backlighting the fly, the Gold Nugget stonefly
nymph presents the color and the heavy segmentation a golden
stonefly nymph has. Although one can never re-created exactly
what a trout sees underwater, this photograph is representative
of the colors, shapes and silhuettes a trout may see.
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The Bill of Materials
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There are just a few materials needed for the Gold Nugget
- any curved nymph hook (size 12 works perfectly for this example)
- clear
yellow and dark pearlesent craft glass beads
-
medium brown rabbit fur dubbing
-
a turkey feather
-
golden goose biots
-
a permanent brown craft marker.
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Step
1.
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TYING TIP
How do you prevent the turkey feather fibers
from splitting when I attach them to the hook? Easy! coat
an entire feather with a thin application of tying cement
or preferably Softex. Let dry and just peel away the segments
you need!
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In our tying
example, a #16 curved shank nymph hook, de-barbed, is used. Place
the pearlesent glass craft bead on the hookshank and place in
the vise. Tie on a prepared turkey feather strip to the 1/3 point
on the hookshank. Prepare a dubbing loop with plenty of rabbit
hair dubbing.
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Step 1.
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Step
2.
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TYING TIP
Don't be afraid to use too much dubbing here. Too much won't hurt you. Wrap it all on!
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Using hare's ear or hare's mask dubbing, dub a rather thick abdomen section, ensuring the guard hair fibers are sticking out, looking downright ugly. Brush the fibers with a toothbrush or dubbing teaser to get all the fibers outward.
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Step 2.
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Step 3.
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TYING TIP
Crowd the beadhead with dubbing so the turkey
tail top has a more wide-diameter place to rest once it
is tied in. This will widen the top of the carapice the
turkey tail is representing.
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Bring the
turkey tail over the top and tie off at the beadhead. Whip finish
and remove the fly from the vise.
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Step 3.
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Step
4.
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TYING TIP
De-barb the hook to get the beads on more
easily.
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Place 4 clear
yellow glass craft beads on the hook shank and hold them in place
with a "wedge" of dubbing...just enough to hold them in.
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Step 4.
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Step
5.
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TYING TIP
To make tying biots on more easy, build up a tapered butt section with dubbing.
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Tie in two
golden goose biots at the edge of the last bead. Prepare a fine
bit of dubbing (as shown in the picture) to wrap over the biots
and hold everything in place. Tie off and place a drop of thin tying
cement at the tail and at the head.
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Step 5.
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Final
Step .
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TYING TIP
It doesn't hurt to color the turkey tail topping to darken it up a little bit.
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Golden stones
are lighter in color on the bottom than they are on top. By using
a permanent brown craft marker, color the top of the beads to imitate
the natural more closely. You're done!
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Final Step.
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A finished Gold Nugget ready to fool a Western river trout.
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