Polly’s Muskrat Nymph

This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Polly’s Muskrat Nymph.

Muskrat Nymph | www.riverkeeperflies.com

A couple of weeks ago, I presented Polly’s Fledermouse Nymph and thought since I had used muskrat, I’d highlight another nymph utilizing the same material. It’s a simple fly to tie with the most difficult aspect is locating the natural materials of muskrat and beaver.

This is a simple fly pattern, but as Polly describes in his book, he rolls the dubbing into a noodle. Then he ties it on the hook at one end and creates a dubbing loop with thread, twisting to create the segmented look.

Ernest H. “Polly” Rosborough (1902 – 1997) lived in Chiloquin, Oregon and his home river was the Williamson River.

Polly tied a large variety of flies but is probably best known as an author of Tying and Fishing the Fuzzy Nymph (1965).

I didn’t know much about the Fledermouse Nymph, but it’s one of the flies Polly wrote about in Tying and Fishing the Fuzzy Nymph (1965). Four years later, Orvis published the second printing, which is the copy I have.

Enjoy…go fish!

Similar Posts

  • Spring Runoff

    What’s a person to do when a storm goes through and dumps a ton of rain and melts the remaining snow? Well, spring runoff means it’s time to tie more flies! Here is an image of the Metolius River at the Wizard Falls Bridge. This is the upstream side. And no, it’s not a common…

  • Lawson’s E-Z Caddis

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Lawson’s E-Z Caddis, developed by Mike Lawson from Last Chance, ID. I bought this fly a several years ago in Maupin, OR for a fly fishing trip with friends on the Deschutes River. I really liked the profile of the fly and the under and overwing made of…

  • Juan’s Condor Nymph

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Juan’s Condor Nymph. OK, it might not be a true Throw Back Fly, bit it fits my theme of our recent trip to Argentina. Juan Carlos Carrera was one of our guides from SET Fly Fishing during our stay at Estancia Chochoy Mallin in NW Argentina. He pulled…

One Comment

  1. John, When I lived in Bend I fished the Crooked River a lot and had great success with this fly.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *