Dark sulphur nymph
This is a pattern I took from the old Flyfishers Paradise website before it was corrupted. Steve invented it, I believe. I usually fish BHPTs, but this pattern out fishes its near imitation 3:1 during the peak sulphur season. Not sure if the fish see so many naturals BHPTs aren’t close enough or if they’ve been beaten on by hundreds of FF throwing PT nymphs. Steve said, and I would agree, that the key is the orange sparkle yarn. It looks much like the exoskeleton of the nymph. You can make different shades by varying the color of the dubbing, but I always keep the proportion of orange sparkle yarn at 50%.
Hook: Mustad 9671 (2X long), sz 16 and 18
Thread: 8/0 unithread Camel
Weight: 0.015 (sz 16) or 0.01 (sz18) lead. Wrapped over the thorax area.
Rib: black ultrawire (sm)
Dubbing: 50% Brown Awesome opossum (047, not natural brown): 50% orange sparkle yarn
Wingcase: mottle turkey folded twice, about hook gap size. Coat with head cement after tie-in. (alternative: mottled turkey thin skin)
Legs and tail: light mottled hen back
Darker version (left, below) substitute Dark Brown Awesome opossum (073)
Light version (not shown) 30% hareline golden brown (HD38), 20% Brown Awesome opossum (047): 50% orange sparkle yarn
Preparing sparkle yarn and dubbing: separate the strands and straighten and separate the fibers using a dubbing needle.. You could use a dubbing comb too. Cut into 1/4-3/8 inch pieces. Do not make them too long or when you blend to dubbing in a coffee grinder the yarn strand stick together and forms little balls of yarn, separating it from the opossum dubbing. Mix in a coffer grinder in small batches.
Legs: you can pull fibers and secure them on each side or use the clipped “V” method (video below). After tying in the legs and before I tie down the wing case I add a drop of cement over the wraps.