Trout Nymphs
 

Trout Nymphs








Growing up on the Lower Yuba River and having the tailwaters of  Northern California and freestones of the Sierra Nevada's to develop, test, and improve trout flies Hogan has come up with a creative and unique approach to imitating aquatic insects with fur, feathers, and string. With the diversity of Northern California Hogan has developed trout and steelhead flies that have proven effective on the most selective spring creek trout to the big wary tailwater behemoths to the small wild native high mountain trout.

Trout Nymphs New for 2011 Hogan’s Golden Child I came up with this fly a few years ago after I came up with the Red Headed Step Child. Gold is a really good attractor on bright sunny days. I found that I was fishing a copper john with a PMD Military mayfly as a dropper during midday PMD hatches and decided to apply the same logic I used to come up with the red headed step child to this fly. It has proved to be a great attractor and a great point fly/attractor leading up to or during PMD hatches Hogan’s Indigo Child I came up with this fly on the Pit River to fish as a slimmer dark mayfly nymph dropper off of a Black AP. There are so many small trim black/Indigo mayfly nymphs on the Pit and other Sierra Freestones and Tail waters that I have come to fish this fly as an attractor on pretty much every river I fish. Hogan’s Lil’Bastard I avoid fishing small flies (small to me is sub #16) during the fall and winter as long as I can, but on the Lower Yuba and Lower Sac it is inevitable that the fish will start keying on midges and really small baetis mayflies. So I came up with this fly two winters ago to match the really small and trim baetis hatche that I encounter during the winter and early spring. This flies comes in #18 and #20. Personally I fish the #20 the most. It combines olive and brown in a very trim small fly. Hogan’s Petrified Pupa I came up with this fly last fall when I found that people on the lower Yuba were starting to fish the Yuba Pupa alot and I started tying with some new tubing material. I gotta stay ahead of the game. This fly applies all the major principles that I have found to be important in a caddis pupa pattern - Great color variety for depth, transparency for realism, movement, and straight eye hook suited for swinging and dead drifting. This fly comes in tan and olive in sizes #14 and #16 Hogan’s Slow Guy I came up with this fly to imitate the transparency of PMD and BWO nymphs as they approach the hatch. Using some new tubing material and a loose wing case I found really imitates the bulging of the wings and building up of gas between the bug and exoskeleton that takes place in the days approaching emergence. I fish these leading up to or during their respective hatches under an indicator or as dropper off of an adult or emerger. General Attractors  Wire Nest - Red Red was the first color of the wire nest I came up with. I needed a bit heavier birds nest and wanted to mix up the fishability of the Copper john and the bird’s nest. These are both flies I catch a ton of fish on (who doesn’t) BUT, fish on the L. Yuba have gotten pretty wise to these patterns. I find this is a great attractor on rivers that fish have gotten a bit wise to the copper john or birds nest. Works great as an attractor paired with a more match the hatch style pattern. I also swing this fly during caddis and mayfly hatches.  Wire Nest - Black When the red wire nest fished so well for me I knew the color options for the pattern were unlimited. Copper, chartreuse, olive, you name it. I tied and fished them all and black was the color that caught the most fish, and that I found myself reaching for the most in my guiding. It is a great spring caddis fly and in larger sizes a great dirty water steelhead or trout fly. I also have found this is a great color to drop below a hopper or attractor dry fly.  Chubby Cousin - Golden I came up with this fly because Mike Costello kicked my butt on the L. Sac every time I fished with him on Rubber Leg Fox Squirrel Nymphs. I knew I could come up with something that was similar, but BETTER and maybe one day catch as many fish as Costello. This is a great golden stonefly imitation. Lots of movement and action in it, plus just the right amount of flash to get fishes attention. This is not a match the hatch style fly, but one that I have caught fish in all types of water on. I also swing this fly for steelhead and have caught a fair number of carp and small mouth on it.  Chubby Cousin - Peacock This color was an offshoot of the original Golden. I am a huge believer in anything that has red and peacock in it for trout. I fish this fly a lot as a point fly while nymphing with a more match the hatch style bug below - small mayfly or caddis pupa usually. It serves as a great attractor as well as a small stone imitation. Lots of movement and proven trout catching colors.  Good and Plenty Nymph - TAN This is one of the first flies that I ever came up with and tan was the first color. I came up with this pattern as a march brown emerger/nymph. Many people on the Lower Yuba River were fishing tan birds nests as March Brown nymphs and I knew I could come up with something that would address the hatch better. While the fly has evolved into multiple colors the Uv flash, light body, dark head, have proved to be keys to matching many caddis and mayfly emergences and nymphs in my fishing. While this is a general attractor I have used it to match very specific may fly and caddis hatches.  Good and Plenty Nymph - Olive Olive was a natural evolution of this pattern and one that has proven very effective. It catches fish as s spring caddis pattern on many of the Nor Cal tail waters as well as a Flav nymph/emerger on places such as the Henry’s Fork. I have come to fish this pattern more than the other colors and have had one of my best days this year on the L. Yuba fishing this pattern. For those that don’t nymph much this is a great caddis emerger fished as a dropper during a hatch.  Good and Plenty Nymph - Brown I came up with the brown color of this pattern a year or so after the tan and olive. Mainly as a latter season march brown fly, the nymph gets darker as it get closer to emergence. While brown is a great attractor color I have also used this pattern as a small stonefly nymph. May sound weird, but one day on the L. Yuba all the fish would eat (and I mean all - I tried tons of patterns before catching fish) was small brown stones. Well of course my clients lost the 4 I had before the end of the day and this was the only fly I had that was the same color and size. Fish ate this fly almost better than the flies my clients had lost. Talk about saving a day.  The Drifter A lot of times I run into fish slurping bugs in flats, scum lines, bubble lines, and slow meandering seams. I arrived at the conclusion that they are just picking at what ever is drifting by. Kinda like hanging at the hors d’oeuvres table and cherry picking the good stuff. I came up with this fly to drop of a dry fly or under a small indicator with no weight and drift right under the surface and imitate anything from caddis pupa, emerging mayflies, still born caddis or mayflies, really anything small that gets swirled around in these scum lines, bubble lines, and slow meandering seams. The fly has great movement and can imitate any small bug. May Fly Nymphs  TUNGSTEN BEAD EXPLODING BAETIS In northern California we fish a lot of tail waters for steelhead and trout through the fall and winter. Baetis nymphs are a huge menu item for our trout and steelhead and I am a big believer in fishing an attractor style nymph paired with a match the hatch style nymph. I came up with this fly to address the attractor part of this equation. This fly matches attractor elements with an accurate proven profile and has caught a lot of fish for me. I also started fishing it as a dropper this summer on some freestone rivers and it proved to be very effective.  The Red Headed Step Child There are certain flies I have come up with that I am really proud of, not because they catch a ton of fish but because they solved a problem. There is something I really get off on by sitting down at my vise and tying a fly that solves a problem. I came up with this fly to fish on the Trinity River a few years ago on bright days with very clear water. Red copper johns fish great on the Trinity, but once the sun is high in the sky and the water is clear I found that the fish got a little more cautious. This fly is based on the same attractor color of red, but with a more realistic mayfly silhouette and a little more subtle coloring. I also fish this fly paired with a military may as an attractor during mayfly hatches.  Better Baetis This is an old fly... I came up with this about 10 years ago. Why better...Because it fished better than the baetis fly my buddy Scott Cattani was fishing on the L. Yuba and he always asked “hey you got any of those baetis patterns that fish better than mine?” I fish this fly everywhere as a small mayfly nymph attractor. Its super slim profile matched with flash make it a great attractor fly on any river that has small mayfly nymphs. I drop it off an emerger or dun as well as fishing it deep under an indicator.  Clinger Nymph - March Brown This fly took for EVER to come up with. The L. Yuba river has a huge march brown hatch. I caught fish on a variety of bugs, but never as much as I thought I should. This usually leads me to the conclusion that I am not imitating the natural accurately enough. This fly matches the silhouette and color of the bug to a tee (believe me I know - massive sampling, mixing of dubbing, and snorkeling). The dark on top light underbody is a key to accurately imitating the light refraction of these nymphs. Also the subtle gills on the side along with the taper of the thorax and body. Clinger nymphs are trim yet wide. I fish this fly as a dropper or down deep under an indicator  Isonychia Nymph This was a fly that I came up with to match a very specific hatch. There is a huge Isonychia hatch on the North Fork of the Feather River and a smaller hatch on the L. Yuba. Again I fished the standard flies for this hatch (black AP, Princes, PT’s etc) and never caught as many fish as I thought I should. When I started looking at the bugs I noticed they were longer, trimmer, and swam very well. So this fly is longer, trimmer, and with the marabou tail gives the illusion of swimming. I dead drift this fly, but swinging it towards the bank or through runs prior to the hatch is the most effective way I have found to fish it.  Military Mayfly - Brown The Military Mayfly is one of the patterns I personally fish the most. I came up with it about 5 years ago to match the complex mayfly hatches on the Lower Yuba, but it has proved to be my go to mayfly nymph anywhere I go. The Brown came as my first attempt at a PMD nymph, but proved to be a little bulky and not the exact color. The most successful way to fish this fly is under an indicator or as dropper off of a dry fly. I find that these flies with the flash work well paired with a more subdued mayfly nymph like a plain no bead PT. Give the fish both flash and plain.  Military Mayfly - OLIVE I came up with the olive color during the fall of the year I came up with the brown. I needed a BWO nymph that had an accurate silhouette and size, but had some flash to give the illusion of movement and work as an attractor. Quigley said once that he creates the fly to accurately imitate the bug then adds the flash and that is what I did with the Military Mayfly. I fish this fly under an indicator any time there are olive mayflies in the water, but mainly during the fall and winter when BWO are most active.  Military Mayfly - BLACK This is the last color of Military Mayfly I came up with. I use to fish the Pit River with my buddy Will Turek and he would kick my butt on Black AP’s. So the Military May in black was born. This fly has evolved to be my early morning, evening, or low light condition mayfly nymph as black creates a darker more distinct silhouette. In brighter conditions I will fish one of the more accurate color Military bugs. A good tip during evening mayfly hatches is switch to the black when it is almost dark for that last fish  Military Mayfly - PMD I came up with the PMD color when I wasn’t happy with how the brown fished during PMD hatches. I lightened up the color and went to a smaller bead along with trimming up the thorax. PMD’s are such thin and trim bugs that I needed to do this to more accurately match the silhouette. I fish this bug at all stages of the hatch under an indicator or as a dropper off a dun or cripple.  S&M Nymph - Olive I came up with this fly based on my observations of the small olive mayflies of the sac and Yuba. Plus input from Jason Lozano and Lonnie Boles who fished these bugs a ton in the early stages of it. Bottom line is mayfly nymphs are trim and darker on top of the wing case than they are underneath and some times fish don’t like flash. I fish this fly under an indicator 365 days a year on tailwaters to freestones and catch fish. This is the first fly that I came up with that made me think I might actually be decent at this tying business.  S&M Nymph- BROWN Believe it or not the Brown S&M didn’t come into existence for a while. I came up with it when fish were getting kinda weary of the PMD Military May. I needed a mayfly with an accurate silhouette but not a ton of flash as I think fish can get wise to flash. I fish this fly a lot during the spring and summer when an olive mayfly isn’t as productive. Fish eat it as a PMD, PED, Pinky (that is what we call them), or any other spring or summer mayfly. Good bug when fish get wise to the flash - kinda like the ladies.  Steelie may - Olive I came up with the steelie may after straightening out a ton of military mayflies one season. This fly is tied on a short shank heavy duty hook that allows a small slim mayfly nymph to be tied on it with a much bigger gap. I found this resulted in much fewer lost fish. The best way to fish this fly is under an indicator paired with a ton of lead and an egg pattern. I found the olive to work best in any light condition during the months of Oct. - Dec. when there are a lot of BWO’s in our tailwaters. I have also used it as a general trout attractor in off colored water for large trout.  Steelie may - Purple I fish this color as a small mayfly nymph attractor for central valley steelhead usually in low light and off color water situations. The main concept is to pair life like patterns and silhouettes with colors that steelhead naturally respond to. Great Lakes Steelheaders have been doing this for years. I have found that the Purple color fishes best later in the season.  Steelie may - Orange I fish this color during bright days, usually mid day. One thing I will do with the orange color is instead of pairing it with an egg I pair it with a more match the hatch style bug and fish the slower water below reds or riffles. Many fish midday will move off the reds, especially on bright days, and feed on bugs. Also this color I do swing on occasion as its bright nature will pull fish or elicit an aggressive grab. Caddis Pupa and Emergers  Starling Darling Caddis I am always trying to come up with new caddis patterns. This fly came to be as a direct influence of Quigley’s micro caddis. On the tail waters I fish I don’t necessarily need to fish flies as small as Q’s but on some spring creeks I guide Q’s fly rails fish so... I took Q’s ideas and added my own to come up with a more tail water suited caddis pupa/emerger. This fly is designed to imitate a small olive caddis pupa swimming to the surface. I usually fish this fly as a dropper off of a dry fly or as a trailer off of a stonefly in the riffles of the tailwaters I fish.  Short Shank Caddis I spent a lot of time last spring watching and snorkeling during midday caddis hatches. I found that bugs that hatch in high light or bright conditions look very different than the same bug that hatches during the evening. With this in mind I began experimenting with patterns that have a lot of light transparency to imitate these midday hatches. The short shank caddis was the product. The glass bead, trim rear with the sparse dubbing flowing over it allow light to pass through the fly. At the same time this creates a realistic silhouette with some flash for attract-ability. Great fly to swing with the straight eye, fish as a dropper, or nymph deep  Spring Fling Pupa I came up with this fly to match the small dark spring caddis hatches on the lower Sacramento and Lower Yuba River. It has proven very successful though as a standard caddis and general attractor pattern. I fish this fly every way possible. I usually nymph with it under an indicator prior to the caddis hatches, but I also catch a ton of fish swinging it during the hatch as an emerger. Also fishing it off a dry or cripple during the hatch catches fish. Overall, it is a very effective pattern and one that I created for a very specific hatch, but now fish year round as an attractor nymph.  Steelie Caddis - Olive I came up with this pattern the same season I came up with the steelie may. A good friend of mine moved out to Ohio and began doing a lot of great lakes steelhead fishing. Therefore the ideas behind great lakes patterns had a huge influence on my tying. I fish this fly in early fall for both trout and steelhead. I fish it under and indicator with an egg pattern behind reds or at the bottom of riffles. Areas where salmon are spawning or turning up gravel to cut reds is also a great spot to fish this fly. At times I will swing it, but rarely, as when fish are focused on eating eggs or nymphs in the drift they won’t move very far to chase a swung fly.  Steelie Caddis - ORANGE/OCT. CADDIS There are a few steelhead rivers around me that have an October caddis hatch. While many of the standard trout nymphs work just fine and catch plenty of fish, the water temps are still warm enough that these fish will also hit a swung fly. With this in mind I came up with this pattern. It matches the silhouette and body of an Oct Caddis but has flashy steelhead catching colors mixed in. I usually will fish this fly on the dead drift and then at the end of the drift swing it out using a classic steelhead swing.  Yuba Pupa - Olive This is by far the best and most versatile caddis pupa I have come up with. I came up with the olive color first to imitate the variety of light olive and olive caddis on the lower Yuba, but this fly has caught fish all over the west over the years. I fish this fly under an indicator prior to the caddis hatch and then as the hatch approaches I switch to swinging it at the bottom of riffles to imitate the pupa moving towards the surface. Once the hatch is in full gear I fish it about 18” behind a Yuba Emerger to imitate pupa stuck in the surface film or struggling to the surface.  Yuba Pupa - Dark Olive As Summer caddis hatches faded into fall caddis hatches I came up with the dark olive version because the pupa in the fall and early spring are darker than the summer. I have found the dark olive fishes great during the fall and early spring. One thing I do is when the summer caddis hatches began to go past dark I will switch my olive Yuba pupa out for a dark olive as the darker colors make a more distinct silhouette in low light conditions. Stonefly Nymphs  Rock ‘n Roller - Brown I came up with this fly when I was guiding with Lonnie Boles on the Trinity River. Lonnie believed that steelhead keyed on stone flies that rolled in the current. Based on this idea I came up with the rock ‘n roller. It has an extremely wide body that allows it to roll in the current as it is dead drifted under an indicator with a fair amount of split shot. It also has plenty of movement with the rubber legs and hackle legs. Brown is one of the first colors that I came up with to match the winter stoneflies in many tail waters.  Rock ‘N Roller - Golden With the success of the brown color I decided to try a golden stone fly color in the same bug. While the original fly was intended to fish for winter steelhead I found that tied in a more spring golden color trout ate the fly really well. I prefer to fish this fly when water clarity is a little off, usually during spring run off, before the golden stonefly hatch. You can also fish it during the winter when water clarity is very good and light conditions are bright as an alternative to the brown. Either way I catch most of my trout and steelhead nymphing it under an indicator or swinging it.  Rock ‘n Roller - Purple It took me a full season to apply the idea of the Steelie May and Steelie caddis to the Rock ‘n Roller Stone, but when I did it paid off. Again the idea of adding colors that steelhead respond to with accurate imitations of the bugs they eat is nothing new, Mid West steelheaders have been doing it forever, but in the west it hasn’t really caught on. The Purple is my off color or muddy water stonefly pattern for both trout and steelhead. Black and purple are well known for creating a dark silhouette in off color water and this is what this pattern does.  ROCK ‘N ROLLER - ORANGE I came up with this last as a steelhead colored fly for bright days. The bottom line is with the addition of the orange Rock ‘n Roller I created a line of stone fly nymphs that moved in a way that attracts both trout and steelhead and in colors that meet all light and water conditions. Of all the colors I swing this color the most during the early fall as it is bright and I have found will pull fish on a swing.  Two Tone Stone I put more time into designing this pattern than probably any other. This pattern was 3 years in the making as I sampled bugs, tied flies, fished, and then resampled and retied hundreds of flies before arriving at the finished product. This is a match the hatch golden stonefly based on the color of the natural. Dark on top light on the sides lighter underneath just like the natural. I nymph this fly under and indicator with plenty of weight with another attractor style stone or a caddis pupa or small mayfly nymph dropper.  Yuba Rubber Leg Stonefly nymph Everyone knows rubber legs catch a lot of fish, but if you have ever looked at a stonefly nymph there is little resemblance to a rubber leg outside of the legs and color. The trout on a few of the rivers that I fish began to make this connection and stop eating rubber legs as well as they use to. So, I came up with this fly to take the best elements of the rubber leg and match them with a few elements to create a more realistic looking stonefly nymph. I catch both trout and steelhead on this fly nymphing it under an indicator with plenty of split shot.