The Biot Nymph

This pattern can be found in Ross Mueller’s first publication, Upper Midwest Trout Flies that Catch Trout: and how to fish them, an excellent must have book about fly fishing Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Hook: TMC 3796 (#16-18)

Thread: Olive 8/0

Weight: Light

Tail: Wood duck flank fibers or a biot

Abdomen: Light olive beaver or tying thread (heavy thread)

Rib: Fine gold wire

Wingcase: Olive goose biot

Thorax: Australian possum or peacock herl

Tying Instructions: I have modified Mueller’s pattern a bit as a cross between his Olive Nymph and his Black Biot Nymph by using an olive biot to represent the tail instead of wood duck – either material is a good choice.  The other major modification is the use of peacock herl instead of brown Australian possum (since I didn’t have any brown Australian possum).

Start by tying in three wraps of .10 lead in the thorax area.  Wrap towards the shank encompassing a biot.  Tie in the gold wire (or copper wire) and work your way back towards the thorax.  You can either use olive dubbing for the abdomen, or do what I did in this particular pattern and use a heavier tying thread (a waxed streamer type thread.  I use WAPSI that has the number 70 on the read label).  It’s just another adaptation that we all make when tying flies.

Tie down the wire and trim.  You can either finish with the heavier olive thread or tie it off and tie in a smaller thread like a 8/0 brown.  Tie in one peacock herl and wrap towards the eye of the hook.  Tie down the biot (keep in mind that you only need one biot per fly) and whip finish, then cement the head.  Be sure not to crowd the eye as this is something I have done with frequency.

Fishing Tips: This is an awesome early season fly.  When the BWO’s start appearing in March and April, I fish this with a #14 orange scud as the main fly in a tandem rig.  This is the trailer fly about 14-18 inches behind the hook.  It doesn’t sink particularly fast even with the lead addition, so it often looks like a BWO emerger.

I also fish this throughout the remainder of the season as a searching pattern when no hatch is present and I’m steadily nymphing.  I never fish it as the main fly and always as the second in a tandem rig or a dropper off a dry fly, which is something I discovered as being tremendously successful last summer.

It is a staple in my fly box as I tie many dozens of them, and lose many dozens of them as well.