With a new lockdown due to take place from Thursday in England I think many fly anglers will turn their attentions to fly tying if they are stuck for things to do for the next month!

This weeks step by step is a Perdigon nymph and it was a fly that was requested I do a blog on! They aren’t my strong point and in all honesty it’s not a fly that I tend to use very often or have many of, although to many anglers they do have their time and place whilst out fishing!

A little bit about the fly – they were developed by the Spanish competition anglers to fish on heavily pressured water. Tied on smaller hooks And with their slim design and “bullet” like body it makes them skink like a lead weight making it a great fly to fish in fast running water! When I’ve fished with Perdigon nymphs I’ve chosen to fish them on a euro style set up.

The materials I’m using today are

Hook Fulling Mill Jig Force Short #18

Bead – Lathkill 3.0 slotted tungsten bead copper

Thread Semperfli waxed thread in black 12/0

Tail – Coq De Leon

Body – Semperfli Perdigon Body translucent Brown

Hot spot – Semperfli FL Orange Perdigon body

Coating – UV resin

Step 1 – place the bead on the hook and pop your hook in the vice. Starting your thread off behind the bead secure it In place with thread wraps.

Step 2 – take the thread towards the bend of the hook and tie in your tail fibres. I tend to use around 5/6 fibres for the tail.

Step 3 – get the tail at the length your happy with and trim away the waste pieces of cod de Leon.

– take your thread up to the bead making sure to cover any bits of tail fibres that may still be present. The key to these flies is an ultra smooth and slim body.

Step 4 – tie in the first body material the translucent brown or similar tinsel material.

Step 5 – at this point I like to create a nice carrot like body with a slight taper for the perdigon body to be wrapped around.

Step 6 – wrap the body material up towards the bead. Making sure you’re covering all of the thread underbody.

Step 7 – trim away the waste piece and tie in the second piece of Perdigon body the FL Orange material, or similar!

Step 8 – to get the hot spot im making around 3-5 turns of the Orange body material, just enough so it can be seen! secure with thread wraps and trim away the waste piece.

Step 9 – whip finish and prepare to finish the fly off with UV resin. you can obviously use standard varnish however this does take a while and will require multiple layers. With the UV Resin I apply it at the bead and use a dubbing needle to cover the fly with. Once your happy with the shape and you’ve got a nice even coat zap it with a UV torch. When ever I’m tying flies like these I cure the resin with the torch then leave the flies on the windowsill to be exposed to natural sunlight to ensure the flies are rock hard and don’t become tacky!

I hope you enjoyed reading this quick and simple step by step, come back next Monday to see the next fly! Rumour has it we’re moving onto some dry flies! Stay tuned, keep safe and tight lines!