IllustrationCorixa
NymphWhen to use
A weighted point fly for weedy stillwater margins and shallows (under about 3m) from late summer into autumn, when corixa become a major trout food. Fish it close to the bottom or along a weed edge on a floating or slow-sinking line with a slow, jerky retrieve — short pulls or a slow figure-of-eight, with distinct pauses — to copy the natural's start-stop swim up for air and back down to weed. Many takes come on the pause or as the fly is lifted, so watch the leader as much as feeling for a pull.
Imitates
Corixid water boatman (Corixidae) — the plain, natural-toned dressing with a pheasant-tail back and a silver-ribbed body reading as the trapped air bubble.
Team position
Point fly, fished close to the bottom or weed edge; also works singly in the margins.
Best methods
Dressing
- Hook
- grub or nymph hook, #12-16, with a flattened lead-wire underbody
- Thread
- brown or olive
- Body
- pale tan-olive dubbing or thread, built flat-oval over the flattened lead underbody
- Rib
- fine silver wire
- Hackle
- two short pheasant-tail-fibre legs bent out and back at the sides
- Head
- thread head
The flattened, oval cross-section (from crimping the lead underbody flat) is as important to the pattern as the colours — it is what gives the fly its beetle-like silhouette. Generic/brand-neutral traditional dressing.
Pairs with
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