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Water Boatman
A nymph, tied #14–18, a fall pattern. It is tied against 1 named insect in this book — September–November.
- #14–18Hook size
- nymphType
- FallSeason
- 1Hatch 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.
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 | Standard nymph hook, sizes 14–18 |
|---|---|
| Thread | Olive 8/0 |
| Body | Peacock or olive dubbing |
| Shellback | Pearl flash or brown thin skin |
| Oars | Two goose biots, splayed |
| Bubble | A strand of pearl flash under the shellback |
When to fish it
Cast, let it sink, then retrieve upward. The take comes on the rise, because that is what the natural is doing.
A fall pattern. The insects it matches are active september–november, in water from 45°F to 65°F.
Target species
- Trout
- Panfish
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.
- Prince Nymph nymph · #10–18 — An attractor nymph with biot wings. Nobody agrees what it imitates and it does not matter.
- Zug Bug nymph · #12–16 — Peacock and a dark body. Older than most of us and still catching fish.
- Black Beauty nymph · #18–24 — Midge pupa, fished under an indicator in slow winter water.
- Black Stonefly Nymph nymph · #12–18 — Dead-drifted along the bottom. Stonefly nymphs are always present in rocky water.
- Blackfly Larva nymph · #18–22 — A tiny black tapered body on a curved hook. Dropped off something bigger in a spring riffle.