I was looking through my fly box recently and realized that I was out of (and hadn’t even fished) a Tellico Nymph in a very long time. It used to be a favorite pattern of mine but for some reason I had gotten away from fishing it. Most of us on the west coast haven’t heard of this fly as it was originated years ago in the Southeastern United States. A well known fly back east, it does a great job at imitating a golden stonefly nymph. And, you can be guaranteed that the fish in our local waters haven’t seen this fly before. So, I tied up several a few up a nights ago and Mary Ann and I hit the Crooked River yesterday for a few hours of fishing.
We got the river about noon. The recent snows were mostly gone and it was a nice overcast day with temperatures in the mid 40’s. Small fish were already rising for BWOs on the surface. Mary Ann picked up several fish on dries but I decided to stay with nymphs. The Tellico Nymph didn’t disappointment me and I picked up a handful of decent fish drifting this fly towards the bottom through the deeper runs. Since I’ve now “rediscovered” this great fly pattern, it will again be a standard in my fly box. Here are a couple of shots from the day, as well as my fly recipe for the Tellico Nymph.
The Crooked River
A nice fall rainbow that took a Tellico Nymph.
The Tellico Nymph
The Tellico Nymph
Hook: #8 to #12 – 1X Long (Daiichi 1560)
Lead: 15 turns of .015 Lead Wire Underbody
Thread: Brown
Tail: Grizzly Hackle Fibers
Body: Yellow Floss
Rib: 2 Strands of Peacock Hearl with Fine Copper Wire Counter Wrapped
Back: Turkey Tail Fibers
Hackle: English Grouse
