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Zug Bug
A nymph, tied #12–16, carried year round. It is tied against 2 named insects in this book, and stands in when nothing is hatching — June–November.
A dark peacock-bodied searching nymph, carried all year and tied on a 2X heavy nymph hook in sizes 12 through 16 with black 8/0 thread. Three peacock sword fibres form the tail, the body is peacock herl ribbed with silver oval, a brown hen hackle is tied in as a beard, and mallard flank clipped short makes the wingcase. Peacock over a dark body is the whole idea, and the fly has been catching fish for a long time. It fishes as a nymph through the drift but earns its keep on the swing at the end of it, where the lift and the shape together do the work. The insect it is tied against is the Isonychia, or slate drake, Isonychia bicolor, on the water from June through September at temperatures between 55 and 70 degrees, and it stands in for mayflies generally as well as for no hatch at all. Trout are the target.
- #12–16Hook 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.
- Isonychia / Slate Drake Isonychia bicolor · June–September · 55–70°F · #10–14
- Water Boatman Corixidae · September–November · 45–65°F · #14–18
It is also tagged for mayflies generally, 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 12–16 |
|---|---|
| Thread | Black 8/0 |
| Tail | Three peacock sword fibres |
| Body | Peacock herl, ribbed silver oval |
| Hackle | Brown hen, beard |
| Wingcase | Mallard flank, clipped short |
When to fish it
An older peacock-bodied searching nymph, still one of the best flies on the swing at the end of a drift.
Carried all year. The insects it matches are active june–november, in water from 45°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.
- Prince Nymph nymph · #10–18 — An attractor nymph with biot wings. Nobody agrees what it imitates and it does not matter.
- Copper John nymph · #12–20 — Heavy enough to be the anchor fly. Gets the whole rig down in one cast.
- Frenchie nymph · #12–18 — A Pheasant Tail with a hot spot. The most-fished competition nymph there is.
- Hare's Ear Nymph nymph · #10–18 — Looks like everything and nothing. The other half of a two-nymph rig.
- Higa's SOS nymph · #16–20 — Small, slim, and deadly in clear low water.