Approximate Damsel

HOOK: Dai Riki 270, size 8-14; weight the hook with five wraps of .010 lead wire. THREAD: Olive Uni-thread, 8/0 TAIL: Marabou, sparse RIBBING: Fine copper wire BACK: Medium pearl tinsel BODY: Light olive/brown Hareline caddis and emerger dubbing LEGS: Olive Hungarian partridge fibers EYES: Olive monofilament

Uses

Imitates a damselfly nymph. Extremely useful in lakes and slackwater portions of rivers. Damselfly nymphs are active throughout the spring. In July, they migrate to above-water objects such as standing timber, rocks, and the shore. Adults emerge out of the water. After July, most mature damselfly nymphs have hatched, so trout are no longer expecting to see them.

How to Fish

Throughout the spring, count-down-and-retrieve, slow retrieve, or wind drift using an intermediate line. Damsel nymphs are not fast swimmers, so a leisurely retrieve is appropriate: a very slow but steady retrieve; or slowly strip in a foot of line, then pause a second or two and strip again. The fly should be somewhere between the weed tops and the top few inches of water.

 Once a migration is underway, position yourself near an above-water object (one that damsel nymphs will be swimming towards), cast, and retrieve. Damselfly migrations are in the top few inches of water, just barely below the surface.