JR’s Damsel

Hook: TMC 3761 or any standard wet, up to 4X long.

Size: #8 – 12.
Wingcase: scudback
Tail: marabou
Body: marabou
Rib: thread or thin wire
Legs: marabou

Photo Courtesy of Arizona Flyfishing

Instructions:

1.      Tie in several strands of marabou for the tail.  Avoid excessive material and keep it sparse for better pulsating movement. 

2.      Tie in ribbing of either matching thread or thin wire.

3.      Dub a marabou body using marabou fibers about 2/3 up hook shank.

4.      Wrap matching thread or thin wire around body and tie down.

5.      Tie in scudback material to be used for wingcase.   

6.      Continue to dub abdomen with marabou fibers towards eye of hook. 

7.      Tie in marabou and wrap around body, hackle style.

8.   Pull scudback wingcase over body, while using fingers to hold marabou down to the sides, which will create legs.

9.   Tie down scudback material behind the eye of the hook.

9.      Whip-finish and apply head cement.

Comments: 

This fly is made entirely of marabou.  I have never found any material yet, natural or synthetic, that gives a fly more motion than marabou. One thing a damsel nymph has to have is motion.  As you well know, when they come off they impart tremendous motion without actually moving very fast in the water column.  This can be a difficult action to impart in a fly, so I
try and make the fly's materials do the motion for me and still be
able to fish it at a snail’s pace if needed.  Most other damsel nymphs I see are tied too heavily and have bodies way too thick.  Using all marabou eliminates the bulk and allows all parts of the fly to stay the same color when wet as are the naturals.  The only drawback to this is getting the correct color marabou. Luckily I dye myself, so I can usually match the color of the naturals I'm fishing.  Different waters have different colored nymphs and it becomes particularly important at the tail end of the hatch after the trout have seen so many naturals.  I use scudback material (spandex) for the wingcase and make it darker than the body.  I also make sure and rib the abdomen with thread usually, although you can use wire to give it some flash and a little weight. This makes this fly remarkably durable.  Mono eyes are also an option if the fish get picky as they sometimes do at the tail end of the hatch, although I usually don't add them.  I never weight it with lead wraps or beadheads.  I like to fly to suspend evenly horizontally down when you pause your strip. 
Weight makes it nosedive.  I have fished this pattern on a floater,
mini sink-tip, intermediate and full sinking lines.  You just put it at
whatever depth is the most productive.  I have caught fish with it in a foot of water over weedbeds and down as deep as ten feet on a full sink.

- John Rohmer, Arizona Flyfishing