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Green Weenie
A nymph, tied #12–16, a spring pattern. It is tied against 4 named insects in this book — April–October.
About as simple as a nymph gets: small chartreuse chenille wound on a 2X heavy nymph hook in sizes 12–16, chartreuse 8/0 thread, a short loop of the same chenille at the tail, and an optional bead if weight is wanted. The colour is the pattern. It is fished through inchworm season on brushy, tree-lined water in May and June, where geometrid larvae drop off overhanging branches and trout are looking up for something small and green, and it serves as a plain attractor the rest of the year. It is tied against inchworms in May and June at water temperatures of 50 to 68 degrees, and against Green Sedge from May through August at 48 to 64. Trout are the target species. It is carried through spring, and its bright chenille body reads at a distance in shaded, broken water.
- #12–16Hook size
- nymphType
- SpringSeason
- 4Hatches matched
What it looks like
A drawing, not a photograph, and not traced from one. Its proportions were read off 5 independent reference photographs of the pattern and written down as 4 measured characteristics — wing angle, tail length against the shank, how far a hackle fibre reaches — every one of which had to hold across more than one of them before it could be drawn. What survives across many photographs of a fly is the fly.
What it imitates
Each of these is the same hatch record the app's own panel reads, so a pattern recommended on a river card in the app is recommended for one of the insects below.
- Caterpillar Lepidoptera larvae · May–September · 55–75°F · #8–14
- Green Rock Worm / Green Weenie Rhyacophila spp. · April–June and September–October · 45–68°F · #10–14
- Green Sedge Rhyacophila spp. · May–August · 48–64°F · #12–16
- Inchworm Geometridae · May–June · 50–68°F · #12–16
Tying recipe
In tying order. This dressing is the standard one — these patterns have been in the publicrecord for decades — and materials substitute freely: the proportions and the silhouette are the pattern, not the brand of dubbing.
| Hook | 2X heavy nymph hook, sizes 12–16 |
|---|---|
| Thread | Chartreuse 8/0 |
| Body | Chartreuse chenille, small |
| Tail / loop | A short loop of the same chenille |
| Weight | Optional bead |
When to fish it
Inchworm season on brushy, tree-lined water — May and June — and an attractor the rest of the year.
A spring pattern. The insects it matches are active april–october, in water from 45°F to 75°F.
Target species
- Trout
Rivers it fishes well
Rivers with a page here that sit in the regions where the insects this pattern imitates are recorded. It is a claim about coverage, not a report of a fish caught.
- Au Sable River northern lower Michigan · July mean 72.1°F
- Catawba River the North Carolina mountains · July mean 76.7°F
- Jackson River the Virginia mountains · July mean 66.3°F
- Muskegon River northern lower Michigan · July mean 71.0°F
- Escanaba River the Upper Peninsula · July mean 68.3°F
- Saint Croix River northern Wisconsin · July mean 77.2°F
- Smith River the Virginia mountains · July mean 51.9°F
- Tygart Valley River the Virginia mountains · July mean 74.6°F
- Kalamazoo River southern lower Michigan · July mean 71.3°F
- Aaron Creek the North Carolina mountains · July mean 76.7°F
- Aaron Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 77.1°F
- Aarons Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 74.2°F
Related patterns
Same type of fly, or tied for the same insects.
- Green Caddis Larva nymph · #12–16 — Bright green free-living larva. In the drift twelve months a year.
- Green Rock Worm nymph · #10–14 — Bright green segmented body, black head, curved hook. Heavier than a Green Weenie and meant to be on the bottom.
- Perdigon nymph · #14–20 — Slim, epoxied, sinks like a stone. The euro-nymphing point fly.
- Prince Nymph nymph · #10–18 — An attractor nymph with biot wings. Nobody agrees what it imitates and it does not matter.
- Walt's Worm nymph · #12–18 — Dubbing on a hook. Suggests cranefly larvae, sowbugs and everything else pale and wriggling.