Fly Tying a Green Damsel (Nymph Fishing for Bigger Trout)

From Charles Brooks' 1976 book "Nymph Fishing for Larger Trout," this damsel fly nymph is an easy-to-tie impressionistic pattern.

Hook: #6-10 3x long
Weight: Optional
Thread: Green (or to match the body)
Tail: Three peacock sword fibers
Rib: Gold Mylar tinsel
Body: Green fur (or tan, brown, dun)
Hackle: Grizzly dyed green

*** Some of the popular books used on this channel: ***

Savage Flies is a project with the mission of encouraging and teaching fly tying to as many people as possible. The channel is named after one of my western Maryland homewaters, the Savage River. I've been uploading three new tying videos a week, with the occasional extra video on other days.

Thanks for stopping by. Please let me know in the comments if you have any tying tips you would like to share or if you have any patterns you would like to see tied here.

[TERRYBIGGENDEN]

It's good to see the occasional mistake or difficulty. There are too many highly polished demonstrations on You Tube. I appreciate that its great to see a perfect tie. but it's also good to see what can go wrong momentarily and how we can recover. red-do the operation or make the best of it. Down to earth. Cheers. :-)

[johnnylightning]

Thanks Matt, another one I need to get in the box. Thanks.

[edwardchavez]

Good Morning Sir Matt, thanks for sharing this Damsel Nymph it's very cool looking. Have a Awesome Day Sir.

[harryjoesather]

thanks matt nice job....and as always i will be watching...see ya joe.

[jamesvatter]

Well done, Matt. If you fish stillwaters, damsels are an essential for the box. I like marabou damsel nymphs, but this pattern should work fine.

[dahutful]

A while back you mentioned, “3 Way” flies….And this sort of nymph pattern is what I have been calling a three-way for a number of years. It has three elements: a tail, a body, a hackle collar. Three elements… Three-way fly.
I’ve tied them big and fat, small and skinny, with artificial materials, with synthetic materials, and so on. Good producer, and a must have panfish fly in my humble opinion. Good pattern, good video, as always. Thanks a heap!

David

[peteyarrington]

Three cheers for Matt, who tells his viewers when he could have done something different or better. I agree with other commenters that there is not enough of that in YouTube videos. Some of the flies Matt ties are good beginner ties, and I am sure many early tiers use Matt and their teacher! Keep up the good job Matt! Stuff goes wrong when you tie flies... so leave in those thread breaks! Tiers want to know how experienced tiers deal with that, and the other "warts", and not enough on it in YouTube.

[toddslichter]

Thanks for sharing Mr O'Neal. Have a great day.

[davehall]

Cool looking fly Matt
Thanks for the video

[edwardthornton]

Another nice looking fly. Great job thanks for sharing Matt.

[martyrothman]

Good morning everyone and thanks Matt for another great video

[karljones]

Good morning Matt. This a cool looking fly. Will definitely be trying this one.

[epsieblaine]

Good morning Matt and everyone from the Great Smokey Mountain of NC.I tie mine with marabou I'm going to add a few of theses to my group of damsel.I like to fish the adult dries too. Great tie Matt Have a great day everyone.Ken and Linda

[mikeney]

That's pretty nice looking fly.nice job thanks matt.

[bigdaddy]

Very nice nymph. Most certainly will hook a fish or two!! Thx Matt. Oh, love your patch and shirt!!!

[RockyPhillips]

Very cool pattern, crazy their nymph is that big

[skylazart]

Matt Matt I see you! Trying to save on tinsels hein ehhehe great pattern! Gonna try this guy for sure. Thank you. 👍

[FlyTyer]

Solid, basic pattern. Damsel & dragon fly nymphs can be huge & scary looking. Spent a couple of hours with my then very young son watching one getting out of his nymph body & transforming into the winged adult which finally dried out & flew away. Slow but fascinating process.

[Jd-ycgw]

Good morning Matt. I think that Damsel Nymph will work well up here as we have lots of dragon flies and with its size range it’s a good one to have along. Thanks for sharing and have a great day. Headed for another ☕️ .

[rollinlapoint]

Have to tie this for some major trout. Going to a stream below a “trout ranch”. Some trout escape downstream and run 3-4 lbs.