Copper John Nymph
I can’t remember how I came to begin fishing the Copper John, but I do know it’s now become my favorite nymph pattern.
Looking back through my trip diary this little fly has been successful on just about every river or stream I’ve fished. It gets down fast and generally stays pretty close to the bottom, however in faster current it will swing up at the end of a drift (down & across).
Quite a few years ago, I started to take notice of a particular type of feeding fish in our central lakes. I say take notice because that’s all I could do as these fish porpoised and wallowed around the best of my presentations. After quizzing a few club members, backed up with a little reading, I learnt that these fish were midging: typically hard fish to catch. This came as no surprise. I had previously learnt that the size and quantity of midge breeding on the water is sometimes in the thousands, giving the fish a lot of food to choose from.
I started fishing midge patterns such as black, olive, glass and red buzzers; small olive wets (Tom Jones, Greenwell’s Glory) etc.; milly midge; black seals fur nymphs; 007 nymphs; midge balls and every other pattern that was too small to thread my 4 ld tippet through. The midge thing was starting to get a little complicated.
After years of experimentation, I mostly fish one pattern that I developed and called the ‘hatching midge’. Its wings sit in the film, supporting the submerged body.
This fly was sent to me by a good mate, Rod Booker. Rod is talented fly tyer who has had his patterns published in a number of national publications.
