Weaving a Deception

I have been working on some woven-body dragonfly nymphs this week. Reg Denny taught me how to do this many years ago. It makes for a very realistic looking abdomen on any dragonfly pattern - including the longer and darker darner type patterns. The first one imitates the stubby sprawler type dragonflies during the spring pre-hatch migration.

A short, stubby woven dragonfly sprawler imitation.

I'm one of those tiers who doesn't always follow a recipe - most of the time I just wing it by memory. This dragonfly patterns start with two lengths of lead free wire laid along either side of the hook shank - this gives the body a somewhat wide and flat appearance like the naturals. Leave enough head space to attach the eyes. The hook for sprawlers is usually a 2XL #8 to keep the fly short and stout. I do up a bunch of the hooks with wire ahead of time and make sure the wire is tied down well and add a little head cement to keep it all in place. 

The weave is an alternating over & under using two strands of yarn in slightly different colors - one color for the dorsal side and one for the ventral. If I haven't tied them for a while it seems I need to re-learn the technique and practice a bit before I start on the actual flies. There are a few YouTube videos out there that cover the woven body technique better than I can explain it. My preference is for soft legs using tufts of dyed mallard flank - this allows the legs to sweep back when using a darting retrieve. The thorax is not woven - just a simple wrap spaced to keep the legs in position. I used bead-chain for the eyes on these ones but I also use glass beads on heavy monofilament with the ends melted sometimes. The wing case is traditional turkey quill. Colors for the sprawls range from light olive to olive-brown.

A longer-bodied woven dragonfly darner imitation.

The darner pattern is tied on a 4XL #8 hook using two strands of brown yarn in slightly different shades. Fine "nymph" rubber legs have a good action on the larger fly. Make sure to make the abdomen longer relative to the thorax  for this one.