Tying the Super Mottle Nymph

In December of 2023, I made a trip to Steelhead Alley in Northwestern Pennsylvania, to be a guest on an episode of The New Fly Fisher show. We were hosted by Captain Kurt’s Charters—and Kurt Bitikofer, along with his daughter Morgan, were our guides. Conditions were just about perfect and we caught many steelhead. One of the most effective patterns was a little grey nymph. Since that time, I’ve been messing around with the pattern and this is what I’ve come up with. I call it the Super Mottle Nymph, because of its uniquely mottled body. The more I tie and fish, the more I believe that mottled colors better represent the coloration of the natural living things that fish like to eat.

The Super Mottle Nymph starts with a size 14 scud/nymph hook, like a Dai-Riki #135. A Lightning Strike SE3 in size 14 would be a good substitute. I pair this with a 7/64” black nickel tungsten bead. The stronger the hook, the better, as a powerful steelhead is capable of bending out even the best size 14.

Insert the hook point into the small hole of one of the beads, then slip the bead up the hook shank. You can then get the assembly firmly secured in the jaws of your tying vise.

.015 lead-free round wire is used to add some weight and to help stabilize the bead on the hook. With the spool in hand, grip the bitter end and begin taking touching wraps with the wire on the hook shank, 7 or 8 turns is about right for this size 14. With the wraps complete, helicopter the wire to stress it and break it off close. I found that pulling both the wire wraps and the bead back to expose some hook shank behind the eye, then applying superglue to that area and quickly pushing both the wire and the bead forward and holding it there while the adhesive sets, will really lock everything in place. This will allow you to tuck in that pesky wire tail without everything simply spinning on the hook shank.

Black UTC 70 Denier thread is a good choice for this pattern. As always, I like to use a good bit of thread tension when I’m tying. Get the thread started on the hook shank behind the wire wraps. Once the thread is well anchored, snip the excess tag end off close.

You can use a variety of materials for the tail, here, I’m going with pheasant tail fibers. Pull 8 or so down, perpendicular to the stem, then pull the feather away to strip the fibers free. It’s a good idea to snip the little curlies off, as they tend to grab onto your tying thread and cause problems. While keeping the tips of the fibers aligned, get hold of them in your right hand. Measure to form a short little tail, only about a hook gap in length. Begin securing the fibers to the top of the hook shank, well down into the bend. Then, return your tying thread back up to the rear end of the wire wraps. Lift the excess pheasant tail fibers up and snip them off close. Advance your tying thread forward, over top of the wire wraps, just to get clear of the hook point.

To get the mottled effect of the fly’s abdomen, I use two somewhat contrasting, yet complimentary, colors of Super Fine dubbing. Here, one is dark tan and the other mahogany brown. Because you’re going to have your hands full in a little bit, pull out and have at the ready, a small clump of each dubbing. Pull down on your bobbin to expose about 3” of tying thread, then pick up one of the clumps of dubbing. With the fibers aligned roughly parallel to your tying thread, begin twisting them onto the thread to form an extremely slender dubbing noodle, about 2” in length. You’re really just coloring the thread with the dubbing.

Now, create a dubbing loop and on the second leg of the loop, establish a similar-sized dubbing noodle with the other color. It should look something like this. Pick up a dubbing whirl and insert the hook into the bottom of the dubbing loop so the two strands come together. Give the whirl a clockwise twist, as if you’re looking down on it. This will spin the two dubbing noodles into a twisted two-colored, little rope. I really don’t like wrapping with a dubbing whirl so I’ll place plunger-style hackle pliers onto the thread at the bottom end of the dubbing loop. Then I take a couple wraps around the hook of the pliers for security, before closing them and snipping the whirl free. Use thread wraps to bind any bare thread at the bottom of the noodle to the hook shank, so the colored part starts right at the base of the tail. Then advance your tying thread forward to a little ways behind the bead.

Begin taking touching wraps with the noodle, up the hook shank, ideally you should end up with a mottled body that tapers from fairly thin at the rear end of the fly, to thicker as you make your way up the shank. Anchor the hackle plier end then snip the excess off close. You should be left with a little room behind the bead for the thorax of the fly.

To build the thorax, pick up another wisp of the darker dubbing material and use it to produce a short slender noodle on your tying thread. Take wraps with that noodle to fill in the area between the mottled abdomen and the back edge of the bead. End with your tying thread at the bead.

Midge-sized black Krystal Flash is used to form the legs of the fly. Snip three strands free from the hank. Lay the material diagonally across the hook shank behind the bead and take a couple of thread wraps to secure it. Then pull the forward-pointing portion toward you and back, and take thread wraps to bind that down. So it doesn’t get lost on my tying bench, I’ll get hold of the excess Krystal Flash with plunger-style hackle pliers before snipping it free.

Once again, pull down on your tying thread and create a super thin, short dubbing noodle on it with the darker dubbing. Take wraps with the noodle to pin the Krystal Flash legs back and build up the thorax a little more behind the bead. You can then get hold of your whip finish tool, do a 4-5 turn whip finish, seat the knot well, and snip or cut your tying thread free.

Pull all the Krystal Flash rearward and snip it off just short of the end of the fly. This should create legs of about the correct length. It’s super important to add a drop of head cement or here, Sally Hansen Hard as Nails, to the exposed thread wraps behind the bead, as these have a tendency to unravel. Ideally the Krystal Flash legs should splay out a bit and the mottled abdomen should have a segmented appearance.

Fished beneath an indicator with a small swivel and maybe some added weight—and possibly a Blood Dot Egg as a second fly if regulations allow—the rig can be incredibly effective.

Fishing for Great Lakes steelhead is a ton of fun, especially when you have confidence in the patterns you’re using.