I’ve been having a lot of fun this Fall here in Eastern Oklahoma catching crappie on a nymphs fished under Pat Dorsey style indicators. I’ve been using some of my larger trout nymphs such as Poundmeisters and others but did some looking around on YouTube and other web searches for crappie specific patterns. Not finding a great deal, I remembered an old article in Southwest Fly Fishing which featured a fly tier from Manitoba.

The gentleman’s name was Gerry Beck and he had several nice patterns in the article but one was a damsel fly pattern that he had a great deal of success for crappie. Below are some photos of that article and his pattern. I’ve tied his pattern and some variants - and caught some crappie last night on Mr. Beck’s damsel. Tie some up…they work!

SouthernRivers those are great looking bugs!

Thanks all! Mr. Beck’s damsel is a keeper. Something about that lime green/chartreuse color that drives fish crazy. I didn’t have any Glo Brite floss and subbed Super Fine dubbing. Used silver French tinsel and Tiemco 5262 hooks in size 8 and 10 with bead head.

Hope you all tie some up and catch a few before winter descends on most of us (I think Odonata is warm in California all year).

If anyone has any specific crappie patterns, please post.

SouthernRivers, those are some beautifully tied flies. I’ll bet those bugs would be successful for trout, bluegills, red-ears and bass. Well done!!!!

Thanks again for the kind words, Little kern golden and BrookieBoy. I think it would pretty cool to see Beck’s Damsel in use across the country. Hope you all tie some up.

The prevalence of damsel and dragon fly nymphs in the diet of crappie, bass, and other warm water species would probably surprise us all. Stillwater trout anglers have always understood their importance but for warm water, there’s less of a focus. Damsel and dragonfly nymphs definitely make up a great deal on insect biomass in most ponds and small shallow lakes.

I typically tie up RLD's, and have caught some nice bass, 'gills, sunfish and crappie on them. Eagerly awaiting the glo brite in the mail, though. I enjoy tying and trying new patterns.

On one of the shallow lakes where I fish for crappie I find that a touch of red can help, for whatever reason. It might be that these guys are a touch more piscivorous.

You know, I bet these would make great stonefly imitations for larger stone flies like salmon flies, and giant black and brown stones. Maybe even giant goldens. Here in north Ga, we get some BIG black stones that look like a salmon fly. The few times these things have come around the fish dont want anything smaller than a size 10 for the rest of the day.

Those are very nice Hersh. Red Fox Squirrel was one of Dave’s favorites and that he created.

I tied the Beck’s Damsel Nymph in two versions and two sizes, 8 and 10z. First version was Mr. Beck’s original with Globrite chartreuse floss:



The second was dubbed with a mix of chartreuse Superfine dubbing and some green Ice Dub:



Both are wrapped with small silver French tinsel. Aesthetically I prefer the Globrite but the dubbing is much easier to work with if you crank out a dozen or more.