This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Janssens Damsel Nymph. I selected the fly because it incorporated a small piece of turkey in the wingcase…very appropriate for a Thanksgiving Day post!
This is the creation of Hal Janssen, another talented California fly fisher. He is a noted writer, artist, lecturer, and video personality. I’ve read that he fishes for anything that swims! Stillwater fisheries are one of his specialties and he wrote a book entitled Stillwater Fly-Fishing Secrets.
This pattern was first seen in a 1976 Fly Fisherman magazine article. It was developed for Henry’s Lake in Idaho.
I found the fly pattern in Randall Kaufmann’s Tying Nymphs book I purchased in the 1990’s. The Janssen Damsel Nymph fly pattern sheet lists the materials from the book. I found another notation from the Internet stating the original body material used a 40 percent blend of bleached beaver, 50 percent olive rabbit, and 10 percent fluorescent orange rabbit.
Another interesting flies from Tying Nymphs is Janssens Dragon. I’ll have to tie some for next summer.
You can never have enough damsel nymph fly patterns. So tie some up and give ’em a try.
Enjoy…go fish!
