The Kicking Damsel Nymph

The Kicking Damsel Nymph, rather than being an out and out imitation, is instead designed to simulate the movement of the natural. This is achieved by the long slim tail and having all the weight at the front of the fly in the form of the eyes which, although disproportionate to the rest of the dressing, also act as an attractor. It is best fished with a leader of at least 12’ and an absolute minimum of 5lb breaking strain. Allow the fly to sink and retrieve it with a series of half a dozen 6” twitches with a three second rest which gives the best representation of the sinuous swimming action of a damsel nymph. It is very important to lay the rod off to the side when retrieving this fly as takes can be positively vicious. Very often the first sign of a take is the rod tip slamming around.