Morning,

Today's missive is all about a very fancy French nymph.

Earlier this month, something unexpected dropped on our doormat - with a French postmark ...

It was from good friend, and unique fly designer, Stan (of Ceramic Flies & Nymphèvolution fame). I opened the package and read the accompanying note - it described some nymphs, which we'd originally had last year (which sold out within hours), he'd been working on an update to them and could never lay his hands on the right materials - now he had found the perfect material, he'd sent some samples over for me to test - I love receiving packages like that!

Stan's note alluded to a more pronounced colour change when the nymphs were submerged - to perfectly (and realistically) match the majority of subsurface nymphs found in European waters - I know these worked really well for me last August (and September), I've seen plenty of gimmicks come and go over the years - and these are definitely NOT gimicks - they really do work:

I was keen to try them out for myself. So, just before I went away, I ventured out in the blazing afternoon sun (which was not ideal), but found a nice shady run, which had a little flow to it and was a couple of feet deep.

I tackled up with the Dark Olive version (below) and trundled a single nymph down the foam line - it took a couple of runs before any fish started to react!

All in all, I was on the bank for around an hour and had a total of 5 fish - all small and wild - just how I like them!

These nymphs are tied to perfection (as is usual with any of Stan's flies). These are slightly lighter nymphs, but with a twist - the secret body material changes to a very very 'buggy' colour when wet.

A great fly to try at this time of year. This style of larvae are found in all of our rivers and stillwaters, with fish of all kinds gorging on them as they trundle along in the flow. Fish one of these just above the river bed, or suspend one under a dry fly on your favourite Stillwater/reservoir and hang on!

Let me introduce you to Stan's WFX Nymph Selection which includes 3 different colour variations:

• Cream (when dry) & Butter (when wet)

• Gold (when dry) & Dark Olive (when wet)

• Grannom (when dry) & Insect Green (when wet)

Each nymph is tied with a 'secret' body material - we did twist Stan's arm, but he still wouldn't tell us what it was!

With this selection of nymphs you will be able to provide a very passable imitation for virtually any nymph (or catepillar) found in UK waters, they also do a very good impression of a maggot - should you need to cheat a little!

This Caddis nymph imitation is ideally used as a point fly in any nymphing setup (and great for sight nymphing). Don't forget about using these on stillwaters also - over half of the UK Caddis flies are found in stillwaters. These imitations are all tied on size 16 barbless Hends pupa hooks.

The tying specification for these WFX Nymphs is:

• Fly Name: WFX Nymph

• Hook: Hends BL550 N°16 Barbless Pupa

• Head Composition: 2.5mm Coloured Brass Bead

• Body Composition: 'Stan's Secret' Body Yarn

• Latin Name: Trichoptera

• Weight: Medium - 0.09g

Please Note: As usual with both Stan and our Bosnian flies, we never have loads of them - we've only 35 of these selections available. We did receive more, but I'm stashing away a few selections for myself to last me through the rest of this Summer and Autumn - these are also great Grayling patterns!

We are only making these flies available as a selection of 9 (three of each colour) - just click on any of the fly images or buttons below to view more detailed images of each individual nymph.

This selection of 9 nymphs is priced at £20.00 - I do understand these are at the pricier end of the spectrum for flies, but the quality is truely outstanding. We only have 35 selections available for sale - I'm keeping a few to use myself! So you will need to be quick!

Or, we've also made Stan's WFX nymphs available to buy in one of our Super Slimline Silicone fly boxes - with a suitable discount (only £10 when bought with this selection, they're usually £15):

*** Go on, you know you want to ***

A Little Bit More About These WFX Nymphs ...

These are one of the most common nymphs found in virtually all waters. They are found on rocks, sand and all types of gravel, so Stan decided to try and make an imitation as realistic as he could.

The perfect imitation has to imitate the different body colours, thorax and legs .... so he decided that a woven style nymph is a perfect combination of back and thorax colour, with the segmentation imitating the thorax.

The 'secret' body material changes colour when wet, to the correct shade. With a dubbed thorax, these are all tied with either black or gold 2.5mm beads.

These nymphs are tied as a general representation of the nymphs commonly seen on our riverbeds. A 'real-life' nymph body looks something like this:

Our imitation WFX Nymphs look like this:

I think you will agree that the design running throughout the body of the nymph makes these look very like the real thing (if you sort of ignore the sharp metal hook hanging out of the end!).

If you're after something a little different to add to your nymph box this Summer & Autumn, I think Stan's WFX nymphs are worth a proper look - the colour change alone makes it an interesting one to fish with, quite apart from how well it imitates what's actually in the water.

Tight lines.

P.S. A quick tip when fishing any nymph imitation like the WFX: keep it moving, even slowly. Naturals drift and tumble along the riverbed rather than staying static, so a dead-drift with occasional twitches often outfishes a completely motionless presentation.

If you're sight nymphing on clear water, watch how the fly's colour reads against the streambed once it's wet - a nymph that blends in slightly can actually help, since it won't spook fish that get a close look before taking. 

On stillwaters, don't assume these patterns are river-only tools. Fishing one on a long leader with minimal movement near the bottom, especially early or late in the day, can be worth trying when naturals are active.

Lastly, barbless hooks need a slightly gentler hand on the strike - a firm, steady lift works much better than a hard yank, and it'll help you keep a fish to the net.