Craft Fur Casual Dress Nymph

Faux Fur Casual Dress

July 8, 2018

"Lets stop at the Goodwill - we haven't been there in a while." 
Lori likes to shop, and we were already in that part of town. 
We don't spend big money on clothes, toys for the grand kids, or other household things, anyway, and we watch our money.
Besides, my wife is always on the lookout for a bargain.  
    To be honest, I don't really mind a bargain, myself. I can usually find something useful at thrift stores, so it was easy enough to agree.

The Shelves Provide
    Some of the things I've found at such, "charity shops," might even surprise you - fly and spinning reels, rods, cases, line and tackle, clothing suited for fishing and many other things for the cause. Yesterday was no different. 

    As I shuffled among all the items, I ran across what looked like a piece of animal fur...

    I first hoped it was a mink or muskrat neck wrap; I've found similar things there, and keep an eye out for them. What I got, however, was a "faux fur" collar that was once part of a jacket. The jacket was long gone, but the collar held promise.
    Basically it is brown craft fur, and it was only 50 cents.

    "What you gonna do with that?" Lori asked. 
    I started to describe my plans, when she said, "Oh, for fly tying? How about that? And only 50 cents. Nice."

    She shrugged approval.
    I nodded.
    We were good to go.

The Fly Within
    My plans were for a Polly Rosborough, "fuzzy nymph." More specifically, his classic, "Casual Dress" fur nymph.

Original Rosborough 'Casual Dress' nymph
foto courtesy of Fly Fish Ohio

    The Casual Dress is tied from muskrat, traditionally, as seen above. I've also used squirrel, fox and even mink. So its versatile in its material needs.  
    I should also add that, to date, it is one of my best fish-catching flies, and this season it's proven to be a can't miss addition to the fly box. Added to this are these other attributes:

• It's hardy

Its made almost entirely of natural or synthetic fur, so it can take some punishment. 

• It's cheap  

If you want to use muskrat, a whole skin costs about $12 and yields hundreds of flies. 
How about craft fur, like this stuff? Well, 50 cents for an awful lot of them is pretty danged cheap, brother!. 

• The tying isn't too complicated 

Just one special dubbing loop method is needed, along with a few other basic techniques. 

• The fish go for it big-time.

This is the best part.

    Comparing the faux fur to the mink and muskrat I'm used to, I see it's more coarse; but not by much. It was close enough to try, at least. And at the price, I could hardly leave it behind. 
It if it worked, I could be in nymphs for a long time!

Success Is In The Details

Faux Fur Casual Dress

    The vise work went pretty smooth; the fake fur is a little harder to clean and prepare than natural furs. The fly itself turned out a little scruffy, as you can see above. But that never hurts this sort of pattern.... it usually helps.

    I added an orange dubbing thorax, and its ribbed with red copper wire. There's no extra weight, so this will be a near surface/slow sinking pattern.

Dressing The Casual Dress

• Hook - #6-#10 Aberdeen 
• Tail - Faux fur "hairs," sorted and evened
• Body - Underfur dubbing combed out from the fake fur 
• Ribbing - Soft red wire, double wrapped in the thorax area
• Hackle - Faux fur hair, applied using a split-thread loop

    Water testing shows this pattern sinks with a horizontal posture, which is how nymphs in general behave - they swim, or scurry, or scamper... and then they kinda glide.

    It's dressing flows readily in the water, much as a nymph tied from natural furs, and I'm especially happy with the glide.    That sometimes takes a little experimenting to get it right.

The Action

    I'm a big fan of nymph patterns, and I find they normally fish well around cover. Weed, rocks, bottom clutter and wood are their natural home. 

    You'll notice I've made this one fairly large by nymph standards - size #6.vThis is because in our Southern lakes, we have some big nymphs. I've found the shucks of dragon fly nymphs in the 2" range...

Swimming Dragon Fly Nymph

    I've also seen the shucks of burrowing dragonfly nymphs as big as your thumb! 

    What this means is...

A. The fish, both bass and sunfish, are accustomed to feeding on such massive critters 

B. Their reaction is usually quite strong when they strike. 

    The fly, as tied, sinks at around 3 seconds per foot, so that's just about right for the depths around the shore. On a long leader, a little tungsten putty on the tippet ring should get a few feet more. 

Fished in the clear water around the mid-lake regions, I suppose I could go to a sinking line and get down to an easy 8 foot depth.

Other Uses, Other Materials

    It also occurs to me that this "Faux Fur Nymph" could mimic a baitfish, at least in some small part. Imagine this same thing tied from light grey, grizzly or even white craft fur. Now squint your eyes and picture this swimming around like a minnow.

    Do you see it?

    But, its main intent is as a stillwater attractor nymph.

    One that is dirt cheap, long lasting, and effective. 

    I don't know if Polly Rosborough envisioned his fuzzy Casual Dress being modified in this way, but I'd like to think he would approve.   

If you liked this, please share it with your friends, and thanks so much for reading.

If the Faux Fur Casual Dress interests you, contact me about getting some for yourself ... dahutist@gmail.com

As always, Tight Lines! 

David Hutton

Palmetto Fly N Fish

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