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Mop Fly
A nymph, tied #10–14, carried year round. It is tied against 2 named insects in this book, and stands in when nothing is hatching — all year.
A heavy, soft-bodied nymph tied on a 2X heavy nymph hook in sizes 10–14 with olive or tan 6/0 thread. The body is a single microfibre mop finger in olive, tan or cream, a collar of hare's ear or peacock dubbing sits behind the eye, and a tungsten bead makes the head and carries it down. What it suggests is a cranefly larva, Tipula spp., which is about in April through June and again September into October in water between 40 and 65 degrees — or a big caddis grub, depending on who is asked. It is also tagged for no hatch at all, a searching pattern that goes on when nothing is showing. Trout are the quarry, and it is carried all year. Off-colour water and cold days are where it does its work. The pattern divides opinion, and it suggests a cranefly larva more closely than most people care to admit.
- #10–14Hook size
- nymphType
- AllSeason
- 2Hatches 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 5 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.
- Aquatic Worm Oligochaeta · all year · 35–70°F · #10–16
- Cranefly Tipula spp. · April–June and September–October · 40–65°F · #6–10
It is also tagged for no hatch at all — a searching pattern.
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 10–14 |
|---|---|
| Thread | Olive or tan 6/0 |
| Body | One microfibre mop finger — olive, tan or cream |
| Collar | Hare's ear or peacock dubbing |
| Head | Tungsten bead |
When to fish it
A cranefly larva or a big caddis grub, depending on who you ask. Off-colour water and cold days.
Carried all year. The insects it matches are active all year, in water from 35°F to 70°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.
- Walt's Worm nymph · #12–18 — Dubbing on a hook. Suggests cranefly larvae, sowbugs and everything else pale and wriggling.
- Pat's Rubber Legs nymph · #4–10 — Ugly, heavy, and the single best searching nymph in high or coloured water.
- San Juan Worm nymph · #8–14 — Aquatic worms wash out in every rise of water. Unfashionable and undefeated.
- Squirmy Wormy nymph · #8–14 — The San Juan with movement. For coloured, pushy water.
- Black Stonefly Nymph nymph · #12–18 — Dead-drifted along the bottom. Stonefly nymphs are always present in rocky water.