Submitted By Skip Nault

Tyer Comments: This is one of the best flies I have used to fool brown trout, especially in the spring and early summer on the Clear Fork River. Also has worked well on rainbow trout wherever it has been fished, especially in PA’s Spring Creek. The pattern originally was designed by Michigan’s Dennis Potter. Updated 5/17/20

Materials

Hook: #12-14 scud hook

Bead: gold or copper tungsten

Thread: 8/0 black, olive, white or red

Body: medium opal tinsel

Rib: small gold wire

Thorax: 2-3 strands peacock herl

Wing cover: medium (or large) opal tinsel

Tail & legs: mini rubber legs, any color

Tying instructions:

Wrap thread at base of bead to snug in, then wrap thread back to hook bend. Tie in rubber leg material to form paired tail. Next, tie in small gold wire length of hook to wrap forward. Secure a length of tinsel near tail and spiral with overlapping turns up to just behind bead. This is when it is nice to have a rotary vice. Next, counter wrap the gold wire up to the bead. Coat abdomen with UV epoxy and cure with UV light. Now tie in a small piece of large tinsel to form the wing cover. Wrap peacock herl to form a thorax 1.5 times size of bead head, then pull over large tinsel to form a wing cover. Place a length of rubber leg material to form a set of legs on the far side of nymph and a similar length on the near side and secure with no more than three wraps of thread between the legs. Tie 4 to 5 half hitches with a half hitch tool just behind the bead.

Note: As an alternative, tie the aurora nymph on a barbless jig hook. The jig hook rides hook point up and is much less likely to snag on the bottom of the stream.

Both the gold wire and UV epoxy protect the tinsel when hook is removed from fish with forceps.