MAYFLY NYMPH: Cardiff Special

[John Pierce]

FLY: Mayfly Nymph - Cardiff Special

Submitted by Dave Robinson

COMMENTS

• Mayfly nymph pattern developed by Lance Taylor of Northern Lights Flyfishers after Cardiff Lake near small town north of Edmonton where cast from shore, tip in water, retrieve.
• Wing case also forms legs.
• Wet fly for lake and creeks.

MATERIAL

• HOOK: #10 to #16 Wet Fly 1x long.
• BEAD: Copper Tungsten or other colour, size to suit hook size.
• THREAD: 8/0 Olive.
• TAIL: Yellow Mallard Flank and strand of Crystal Flash.
• ABDOMEN: Light Yellow Rabbit Dubbing or similar. (Seal dubbing is OK in Canada not elsewhere). Can use dubbing wax but makes dubbing clump and makes it more difficult to slide dubbing up thread.
• WING CASE & LEGS: Yellow Mallard Flank.
• THORAX: Dark olive Seal dubbing or Crystal Seal dubbing.

METHOD

• BEAD: Place on Hook.
• HOOK: Place in vice.
• THREAD: Tie on behind bead, wrap down to start of bend.
• TAIL: Choose Mallard flank father with a lot of barring (dark stripes), strip fuzz off bottom, tear off gap width of barbs, tie on at end of shank with tail length equal to shank length (long tail), with thread tie on up to bead and cut off excess.
• RIB: Tie in single strand crystal flash behind bead, wrap down to start bend.
• ABDOMEN: Wrap minimal dubbing around thread, wrap thread-dubbing up shank to bead, add more dubbing and repeat to back, repeat to front, aim for tapered abdomen with thicker in middle.
• RIBS: Counter wrap crystals flash back up body to create a segmented body.
• LEGS: Strip mallard feather, stroke barbs back, cut off stem to create a V of barbs,  lay down behind bead towards front with V on each side of bead, tie on. then fold feather back along back of hook, pull stem back to pull barbs/legs up vertical.
• THORAX: Wrap thread-dubbing behind Legs until bit bigger than abdomen.
• WING CASE: Fold and hold both back, fold feather to front, tie on behind bead and cut off excess.
• LEGS: Add little more thread-dubbing bend bead to force legs toward back.
• FINISH: Whip finish, head cement, trim any excess.