The two polystyrene balls tied near the eye of this nymph fly pattern give it its name. They also suspend the body of the fly down from the water surface to imitate a nymph emerging. The trout see this fly as fish food.

BOOBY NYMPHS Hook size 10 - $US each

UK fly tier Gordon Frazer designed the Booby Nymph as a buoyant subsurface attractor nymph pattern rather than an exact imitation of a particular aquatic insect. It’s ability to float comes from two polystyrene balls tied behind the eye of the hook. Gordon used a pair of fine nylon mesh women's stockings to supply the netting to keep the polystyrene balls in place. He used marabou for the tail to add movement on the retrieve. It had a dubbed fur body. In my view it does a passable imitation of damselfly larvae, alderfly larvae and dragonfly larvae. The white booby and the olive booby are useful as baitfish imitators.

Gordon Frazer’ favorite location for bank fishing in the 1980’s was Eyebrook Reservoir, Leicestershire, UK. This is where he experimented with different fly designs until he perfected the Booby nymph. His preferred method of fishing was to present the fly on a sinking line. The advantage was that fishing a buoyant fly pattern in this way line meant that it could be retrieved at almost any rate, from a fast strip retrieve to a super slow figure-of-eight. Gordon found he rarely snagged up and could therefore adjust his method to try and imitate a fast moving baitfish to a much slower moving damselfly larva.

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