Tied by Paul J. Beel
This nymph was created by Pat Barnes back in the 1950s. The P.W. stands for Pat’s Weighted nymph. You don’t see this one much anymore. There is a good story of the nymph’s origin in Pat’s book, Ribbons of Blue, but there is no photo or recipe. I did find the recipe and photo of the pattern in Bruce Staples’ book Trout Country Flies. So I tied one up.
Back then, the Martinez Nymph by Don Martinez was the dominate nymph of the West Yellowstone area. So Pat was on the lookout for an alternative to sell in his shop. Here is the rest of the story given from Ribbons of Blue.
“Buck Voorhees kept bugging me for a weighted nymph. Buck was a retired college professor, one of our steadies. I was looking for something that would satisfy him, something that I could tie fast with the materials at hand. This was one of the several he liked. It became a hot seller when a camera man from St. Louis caught a five-pound brown on the P.W. Nymph on the Firehole.”
Recipe:
Hook: Mustad 3906 – size 12 – could be tied between 6-12
Weight: lead wire on shank
Thread: Veevus 16/0 black
Tail: Spirit River UV2 Mallard Flank strands
Body: Yellow floss ribbed with peacock herl
Thorax: Peacock herl
Wingcase: Spirit River UV2 Mallard Flank feather
Hackle: tips from mallard flank feather
