Teardrop Baetis by Barrie Duffy
Why Use Tear Drop Nymphs ?
Well what I was looking forΒ was an alternativeΒ to bead head flies but keep the weight to fish deep.
When I first used tear drops I tied them on the same way as everyone else until one day instead of putting the teardrop with the slot upΒ I accidentally put the slot down towards the hook bend.
One of the rivers I fish regularly is very rough, full of rocks and weeds, so when fishing flies with the hook point down you get caught up if you try to fish deep. When I first saw jig hooks I thought they were the answer to my prayers but it means you have to use bead head flies. So back to that tear drop on my tying desk..
Mounting Teardrop on Hook
More than once I had knocked it onto the floor and I noticed it always landed hook point up-facing, so I tied a few up for my next trip to the river.Β The patterns I tied were simple hares ears and pheasant tails.Β When I tried them out, did I get hung up on the weed covered rocks ? Yes but even less so than when using Jig flies.Β The beauty of using teardrops is the ability to tie more imitative flies if you wish. I have tied baetis nymphs, stone clingers and stone flies or just hares ears.
Baetis underside, as it fishes point up
Some hooks I found work well with Tungsten Teardrops are Hends BL554 or Hends BL154 , pupa hooks and jig hooks. I have also tried klinkhamer hooks for a slightly different shape for stone flies – well worth a try.Β I now always fish at least one teardrop nymph for euronymphing
For more amazing teardrop nymphs check outΒ Tungsten Teardrop Nymphs by Barrie Duffy
All flies pictured above tied by Barrie Duffy,Β imagesΒ©JoelBarrow
