This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Rosborough Casual Dress Nymph.
I found the fly on display at the International Federation of Fly Fishers Museum in Livingston, MT and took this picture of the Rosborough Casual Dress Nymph through the glass display in a dark room. I think it turned out quite well. It was one of several flies in the collection of Polly Rosborough. It’s is one of several flies in a display entitled Polly’s Proven Killers.
The Rosborough Casual Dress Nymph can be used to imitate a mayfly, stonefly, or caddis. Polly tied the fly and fished it on the Upper Deschutes River in 1960.
Polly lived in Chiloquin, Oregon and his home river was the Williamson River.
Ernest H. “Polly” Rosborough (1902 – 1997) tied a large variety of flies but is probably best known as an author of Tying and Fishing the Fuzzy Nymph (1969).
Here are a few more TBT Rosborough flies – the Dark Caddis, a Grasshopper and the Spruce Peacock.
| Materials | |
| Hook: | 9672, 79580, 1206 2 – 10 |
| Thread: | Black |
| Tail: | Muskrat with guard hairs |
| Body: | Muskrat fur “segmented” look (twist method or noodle) |
| Collar: | Muskrat fur with guard hair |
| Head: | Black ostrich herl (4 strands twisted around thread to form chenille) |
Fly pattern from Randall Kaufmann’s American Nymph Fly Tying Manual (1975), page 83.
Enjoy,,,go fish!
Hi John,
This nymph is an amazing pattern we’ve used in one form or another for years. Like many fly tiers we “changed it” a bit. We replaced the ostrich herl/thread head with a fur-dubbed head that is about the same shape as a head on a Muddler Minnow. AND we call it the Muddler Nymph. We tie our version using muskrat (original like Poly’s Casual Dress), rabbit (in various colors), mink, beaver, and peacock herl.(with a dubbed head) If we could have only one nymph in our boxes, it would be the Muddler Nymph in a range of colors and sizes #18 to #2. Take care & …
Tight lines – (Gretchen &) Al Beatty
Al
Thanks for your comment. I better tie up a few of these!
John