Jig Hook Nymphs with CDC

Over the last number of seasons the use of CDC in nymph dressings has increased dramatically, this development has given an extra but simple benefit to already productive nymph patterns.  I have been using CDC for many years on my dries and I know it is a great material for catching fish through this method. It was a couple of seasons ago when I was fishing some rivers in Norway that I was given a small gold wire nymph and told that this was working really well at the time for trout, the dressing was very simple a gold bead with gold wire wound up the body in touching turns and it had a CDC hackle just behind the bead head; the hackle folded beautifully down over the body when the fly was in the water and gave it a real natural and fishy look.
Sense then I have been adding this feather to some of my nymphs in different forms, on my micro nymphs ill pluck some fibers from the feather and dubb them onto the thread then wind them on just behind the bead and brush out the fibers, on the larger nymphs ill wind on or spin on the CDC hackle which allows the long hackles to create the look I want with the nymph. After been asked recently how to achieve this look I will show you and it is really straight forward.

Firstly once you have reached the stage of the body is complete with ribbing and what ever else you chose, then get a CDC feather that has a reasonable consistency to is hackle lengths like on the picture, then by brushing back the fibers near the tip tie in the stalk and simply wind on the hackle and brush it back as you wind on with your finger tips, once it is wound on as many turns as you require then wind the thread through the hackles and tie it off. To complete the fly I would add in a turn of some dubbing depending on the finished look I want and brush this out and back to allow all the materials at the head of the fly to blend in together. 

Here are some of my more successful nymphs with CDC:

Hook: Size 10 Hends jig BJ120 

Bead: 3mm slotted tungsten sliver bead with a flat lead underbody

Thread: Olive twist tying thread

Tail: Cock De Leon

Tag: Glo-brite no 5

Rib: Hends blue patina tinsel

Body: Grey Hares ear dubbing 

Hackle: Hends light grey CDC

Collar: Grey Hares ear dubbing brushed back well.

Hook: Size 12 Hends jig BJ120 

Bead: 3mm slotted tungsten sliver bead with a flat lead underbody

Thread: Olive twist tying thread

Tail: Cock De Leon

Tag: Glo-brite no 5

Rib: Hends medium peral tinsel

Body: Natural phesant tail  

Hackle: Natural CDC

Collar: Hends spectra dubbing no 46.

Hook: Size 12 Hends jig BJ120 

Bead: 3mm slotted tungsten gold bead with a flat lead under-body

Thread: Black twist tying thread

Tail: Cock De Leon

Tag: Green holographic tinsel

Rib: Hends green wire

Body: Pheasant tail dyed olive

Hackle: Hends olive CDC

Collar: Hends spectra dubbing no 46.

I generally fish these nymphs on the point of a team of nymphs using the weight of these nymphs to drag down the smaller nymphs that are on droppers, this can be effective when you are fishing in early season or in heavy water. Allowing the Jig hook nymph to trot down the current into the path of hopefully a hungry trout. I hope you have enjoyed reading this post and try out this addition to your nymphs it really does add to the productivity of your flies. You can sign in and follow this blog to be updated when the next post goes up with more flies, just enter your email in the box on the right and thanks for reading.

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