Modern nymphing techniques, especially those known as Euro nymphing, have exploded in popularity in recent years. While Euro nymphing has been well established on the competition scene for years, many other anglers are now realizing just how effective it is. If you’re looking to try it yourself—or looking to up your game—you’ve come to the right place. While rods and lines matter, you can’t catch anything without the right euro nymph patterns! Below you’ll find a list of our top 10 euro nymph patterns. Between all of us at Fulling Mill we spend a lot of time nymphing, so you can be assured these are tested with 100s upon 100s of hours on the water.
1. Weiss’ BP (Baetis Perdigon)
We find ourselves loading our boxes with a lot of slim-profile baetis patterns these days. And, there’s a great reason for that. Baetis nymphs are abundant in most trout streams worldwide. Because they’re small, they often live through several generations per year. This means multiple hatches, and lots of baetis nymphs being around year-round. As a result, fish rely on baetis nymphs. These two bugs check all the boxes. They’re thin, the have a thin profile, and they have great segmentation. These euro nymphs are must-haves.
2. Spanish Bullet
This fly comes in several color variations, and they’re all extremely effective. With their thin bodies and heavy tungsten beads, they sink faster than just about any fly. As a result, they help you get in the zone faster, which allows you to extend your drifts. Not only that, but they can be used to fish pockets that would be un-fishable otherwise. They’re perfect for any river with healthy mayfly populations.
3. Keslar’s Dark and Dirty
We’re big fans of dark colored flies with bright contrast somewhere built into the pattern. Tag, dubbing collar, thread collar—they all have a place in our boxes and are puzzle solvers throughout the season. This nymph is especially good for slightly stained waters fished deep. However, don’t just limit yourself to that. Since it’s not overly flashy, this is a great searching pattern on a euro nymphing or indicator setup—especially when midges are around.
4. Blue Collar Pheasant Tail Nymph
It’s no secret that the pheasant tail nymph is one of the best trout flies ever tied. We fish them constantly in all different colors. When there are mayflies around, they are unstopable. This variation has been in Fulling Mill Technical Manager Eric Kelley’s personal fly box for a while as he’s tweaked it to perfection. It’s finally there! The burnt orange pheasant and UV blue tinsel collar is the ticket. This is a fly that you can fish year round in a variety of hook and bead sizes.
5. Croston’s Full Metal Jacket
Howard Croston’s uniquely designed Full Metal Jacket nymphs rose to become one of our top 10 euro nymph patterns nearly overnight. Due to their unique design, which is heavy and specially weighted, these nymphs get down extremely fast. They’re perfect for deep, fast pocket water and big slots when the water is moving. What’s most amazing about them is that they are extremely heavy, but still maintain a thin profile. These nymphs have accounted for some large trout over the past year since we’ve brought them into the range.
6. Mircro Perdigon Nymphs
We’re huge fans of getting out to nymph early in the season. During that time of year the bugs that are moving tend to be on the smaller size, at least in the waters we fish. This line-up of micro perdigons are heavy hitters for that reason. They can imitate a wide range of mayfly nymphs, and they accurately match the size of many early season nymphs. They’re perfect for upstream euro nymphing with floating sighter techniques.
7. UV Green Weenie Jig
There’s just something about this pattern that makes it a year round bug to have at the ready. If anyone tells you otherwise, they haven’t tried it yet. In especially effective during summer months when it represents inch worms and grubs. Fished under trees and vegetation it can be irresistible. However, it performs well the rest of the year too. Some flies are just that good. Not much more needs to be said about Green Weenies in any variation!
8. The Milkman
We keep coming back to this fly year after year when others just seem to fall out of favor. What is it about this pattern that makes is so effective? We firmly believe that it has to do with it’s general “caddisy” or shrimpy look. Bugs like that are always in the system, which means fish are almost always eating them. Whether you’re fly fishing a classic spring creek or a rolling freestone river, this fly is great as a point or dropper nymph.
9. Daniel’s Chewy Caddis
This is a super effective nymph from George Daniels’ fly box that’s found its way into ours. The bugginess about this one makes it a good year-round choice. Under and indicator, on a euro nymphing setup or under a dry—you can’t go wrong. We’ve caught fish on this in the middle of January all the way through late fall. The UV resin built over the UV micro streamer straggle gives a reflective property underwater that fish really key in on.
10. Weiss’ Mustard Walt’s
Plain and simple, we love this fly. Those two words are why we rely on this one year round—it’s plain and simple. Pat Weiss developed this for Alderfly larva. Its olive/yellow dubbing mix is just the perfect match for imitating the larva stage of this insect. With that being said, this is one of those euro nymphs that’s universally effective. It works year-round in rivers around the world. It’s a one of the best searching pattern in any fishing venue.
Photo: Joe Klementovich
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