Ostrich as gills

[albud1962]

Someone recently gave me a Joe Humphrey's green drake nymph. I liked how the gills stood out and would like to incorporate in my nymph tying. Does anyone have a video or some tips on how I can dub between the ostrich herl to show distinct gill filaments? Any info is appreciated.

 

[Cold]

Without a picture, my first guess would be to either tie in the ostrich first, then create the abdomen (dub, larva lace, whatever) then wrap the ostrich as a rib in the gap between the wraps of the body material.

 

[Fishidiot]

If it were me, I'd tie in a dubbed body first, then palmer the ostrich over the body. Next, pull a dark turkey or some other top over the body and rib over this with a fine wire or mono. The tricky part is this final step of ribbing the abdomen. A technique like this would be best for larger nymphs like the green drake. Personally, I probably wouldn't bother attempting this on small nymphs under about #14.

 

[albud1962]

Here are two pics. Orvis was carrying the humphrey's green drake but now I don't see it in their catalog.

 

[PennKev]

Just lash them across the shank as you would a spinner wing. Dub the body in a similar manner as you would on a spinner around the wings. Finish by trimming the protruding hero stubs to length and shape. Not sure what's so difficult about these gills.

Kev

 

[albud1962]

Well not having done this before I was looking for guidance. The herl was ending up bound by the dubbing and I wasn't achieving the segmentation.

 

[evw659]

another method that works great for me is to just tie in a couple herls on either side of hook where tail starts, add a rib and shellback if you want, dub the body, then pull each set of ostrich herls over each side of the abdomen to where your dubbing ended, tie them in, pull your shellback over, and carefully rib it to not trap any of the herl fibers against the abdomen. the result is gulls protruding from only the sides of the abdomen, similar to a lot of nymphs. its pretty easy to do, but the real key is your ribbing. 7x mono seems to work great for me because it accomplishes the task of pinning down the brittle herl fibers to the hook, and it minimizes the amount of hero fibers that get pinned to the abdomen, which helps to accentuate the gill profile.

 

[nfrechet]

try this

http://hatchesmagazine.com/blogs/Hatches/2011/09/28/g-nymph-by-lucian-vasies/

 

[DGC]

What PennKev said is how I do it and probably how JH does it. Lash ostrich perpendicular to the hook, then dub around them on up the abdomen. No need to add a rib at least not as far as that pattern is concerned. JH mentions using Emu but Ostrich is no doubt a close enough sub. You may need two strands or more just depends on how fluffy the herl is.

An up close look at JH with his GD nymphs splayed on his Richardson is available on video in HD via youtube.