Fly Tying

Ceramic nymphs are known in France and became popular with the help of a French tier – Stan. These flies are developed for fishing in rivers with high fishing pressure, where educated fish are very  careful in what they pick from water surface or  from the river bed. Beaded flies are not so effective in these rivers  ( from French Alps )  and the local guys developed a kind of nymph that sink  super fast without  having a tungsten bead. Dubbing or anything else  modify the sinking rate due to water resistance.  So  they  found a solution: lead wire colored and coated. First times these  nymphs where colored with porcelain  dye, cooked in oven at 200 Celsius degree  and then colored again, coated with head cement for a deep translucent look. A lot of time spent  to make these flies

Not , in these days when colored resins are available,  the “old” treatment is not needed because with these modern resins this kind of fly can be tied in 3-6min depending how many colors  a tier wants to use. How to make them much faster is simple: just wrap the lead wire, coat with the colored resins and that is is!

Bellow are  those tied by me these days with chartreuse/black and orange. These versions represent a ryachophila larva ( the free swimming version ). With slim profile,  tied small, this fly will sink  fast and will remain balanced ( due to the fact  that the lead wire is added on the entire length of the hook shank ).

There is one big secret on this fly: to remain small. Means the hugest and the biggest should be made in size #14. The most successful size is #16-18.

Cheers,

Lucian

PS
Video bellow: