Kiwis are no stranger to American flies, and many of us use the Adams, Wulff, Humpy and grasshoppers, in fact the Adams Parachute is my go-to searching fly in new waters. Elk Hare Caddis is another very effective fly whether there is a hatch or not. CDC feathers have made an excellent variant.
What caught my eye recently was reference to a steelhead nymph called the “Pink Squirrel” created by John Bethke. Adrian Bell's “Galah nymph” is so similar it's uncanny and answers a question that's been around since the early 1980's when we used the Galah with so much success on the Lk Taupo rivers, it simply is such a good nymph. John's original has materials that I don't have so I set out to make a variant as close to the original.
Hook 10-12
Bead gold
Thread pink
Body equal mix of natural rabbit, brown ice dub & hare mask
Rib red wire
Collar hot pink dub
The appearance should be hairy, spiky, munchy. tasty.
Another steelhead nymph I came across and have tied is the “Orange Crush”
well worth a look at some time.
p.s. the pic's colours are washed out due to not having a decent macro.
