Pattern Database

The tungsten bead version of Sawyer's classic nymph gets deep quickly and adds just enough flash to trigger strikes. The most productive nymph variation for most North American trout streams.

John Barr's Copper John sinks like a stone and triggers strikes with its metallic wire body and reflective wing case. One of the most effective fast-water nymphs of the last 30 years.

The classic Hare's Ear nymph with a pearl flashback wing case that catches light and triggers strikes. The subtle flash suggests the gas bubble of an emerging nymph — a small change that consistently out-fishes the standard version.

Lance Egan's competition-born Frenchie is a Pheasant Tail nymph with a hot spot thorax. The pink (or hot orange) dubbing creates a trigger point that consistently outperforms the unmodified original.

The Perdigon (Spanish for "pellet") is a euro-nymph built for speed and depth. Its smooth thread body coated in UV resin cuts through current like a stone, reaching fish before they can drift away. Available in olive, black, red, and purple — each targeting different feeding moods.

Lance Egan's flashy attractor nymph — a wrapped pearl-flash body, pheasant-tail whisks, and a hotspot of rainbow-blend dubbing under a silver bead. It imitates nothing and out-fishes nearly everything, particularly on pressured tailwaters where fish have seen every natural.

Ted Welling's Zebra Midge is the go-to tailwater midge larva pattern. Two materials — thread and wire — tied on a beaded hook. Deceptively simple and devastatingly effective.