I once wrote an article in the “NZ Outdoor” on it way back in September 1974 on “the Flymph”.
It’s a term to describe the hatching aquatic insect halfway between a nymph and adult fly.
Basically it concerns the transformation of the hatching aquatic insect from a nymph to a hatched fly. A crucial stage is that of the nymph’s penetration of the surface film – the emerging stage. It seems the insects can have difficulty in penetrating the surface film. And the trout like any thinking predator, seizes the opportunity as it senses the nymph’s temporary helplessness which can trigger the trout’s feeding o focus exclusively on this exact stage.
It’s the mid stage between a nymph and an adult fly, hence the term “flymph” which was coined by an American Jim Leisenring. Jim learned early in his fly fishing that the phenomenon of escaping, free swimming aquatic insects could be imitated by manipulating line and fly, so as to cause the fly to rise to the surface to imitate the ascending natural. It was dubbed the “Leisenring Lift.”
Jim Leisenring had a very limited education and his spelling and grammar were not up to writing a book on his theory. However a good friend Vernon S. “Pete” Hidy helped Jim to pen a most interesting book “The Art of Tying the Wet Fly” published in 1941. A later revised edition of the book titled “The Art of Tying the Wet Fly and Fishing the Flymph” was co-authored by the two and published in 1971.
Jim Leisenring
About Pete
Pete was a fly-fishing editor, writer, photographer, conservationist and innovative fly tier. He founded the Flyfisher’s Club of Oregon, coined the word flymph, and campaigned tirelessly for James E. Leisenring’s place in the fly-fishing world.
Pete Hidy had an admirable approach to his fly fishing never wavering from the idea that fly fishing was to be pursued for pleasure and that trout streams were “sanctuaries,” where, through the art of angling, one could enjoy a “contemplative conversation with nature.” He never spoke ill of any person. In contrast to those anglers who measured their pleasure by the number and size of fish caught – the numbers game I call it – Pete Hidy crafted the Fisherman’s Law which was “Fishermen may find unexpected pleasures more enjoyable than the ones they seek.”
It was echoing the philosophy of famous American conservationist Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862) who put it succinctly when he wrote “Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.”
But back to the flymph. It’s particularly applicable to the dusk time rise of trout, a most uncertain event today but hat’s another story relating to the declining ecosystem of rivers. During evening it can be difficult to discern whether the trout is taking nymph or dry fly, or the intermediate stage of flymph.
A flymph is a hatching insect and may be mayfly, caddisfly, midge or stonefly that according to Pete Hidy is in the stage of metamorphosis “changing from wingless nymphs to flies with wings”. These flies can be fished with “across and down” – a technique in which the current naturally swings and raises the fly towards the surface in front of a rising fish – although it can be fished “blind.”
The current causes the soft hackle and body materials to simulate “life” The attraction to the trout is that the flies not only look natural but behave naturally with movement – they have the appearance of life. Hence the use of soft hackles is important in a flymph. Jim Leisenring seemed to use traditional little wet flies such as Hares Ear, Iron Blue, Tups and other US patterns but tied with only a hackle, i.e. no wing. Soft feathers such as hen, partridge, grouse, starling, woodcock, or quail are used.
Jim’s Method
Ed Engle in “Freewheeling Tactics and Alternative Techniques for the Diffiiculty Days” (Stackpole Books) says Jim Leisenring fished his “lift” technique to visible trout, fishing upstream, just as today’s nymph anglers fish in the Frank Sawyer method. “He needed a stretch of water about fifteen feet or longer that was about two or three feet deep and he needed to be able to spot a trout in that water. Once these conditions were met, Leisenring positioned himself so that he could cast an unweighted nymph upstream and across from the trout. The fly had to cast far enough upstream to allow it to sink to the bottom before it travelled downstream ti the trout. The key technique was to to allow little or no slack in the fly line or leader, but not enough tension to alter the natural drift of the fly. As the fly drifted downstream, Lessening followed it with the rod tip to maintain the delicate no slack/no tension ratio until it was about four feet or so upstream of the trout, at which point he stopped the rod. Since there was little or no slack in the line and leader when the rod was checked, the current would slowly lift the fly towards the surface, creating the illusion of an actively swimming or emerging nymph. It was a deadly technique especially at the beginning of a hatch.]”
The UK’s father of nymph fishing Frank Sawyer developed a similar technique on English chalk streams (spring creeks). Frank Sawyer’s technique differed slightly in that he would actually lift his rod to manipulate the fly called “the induced take.”.
A typical Leisenring wet fly. Soft hackle and sparsely tied.
American Sylvester Nemes wrote a couple of very good books on the soft hackled wet fly. Thank you.
Captain Hamilton an early immigrant from England to Dannevirke area wrote a book publiushed in 1904 called :”Trout Fishing and Sport in Maoriland”. he details five soft hackkled wet flies he used to great effect on the Manawatu River.
I have always been a fan of wee wet flies for beginners. The flymph is the next step up. I have fished successfully with a flymph consisting or a looped rubber band tied on a fly hook in the method described. My “rubber fly” was marked with a permanent marker to create segments. This flymph worm was successful in two different rivers before the ignominy of being a pseudo worm fisherman drove me back to more traditional flies.