Stone fly nymph

Buoyant porcupine quills secured to the top of a yarn fishing nymph diverge forward to a location beyond the forward end of the yarn body and outward for maintaining the nymph upright with its hooked end substantially directly below the body of the nymph.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to a fishing fly or nymph. 
2. Prior Art 
Known fishing flies or nymphs have very buoyant bodies or other parts to 
assure that the nymphs always remain on the surface of the body of water 
being fished; or are weighted to assure that they will sink; or are 
constructed as to remain on the surface until they become waterlogged. 
There is a problem with all of these types of nymphs in maintaining the 
nymph "upright", that is, with the shank of its hook substantially 
horizontal and the barbed end of its hook substantially directly below the 
nymph body in the optimum position for hooking fish. For example, floating 
nymphs having very buoyant parts bob unnaturally on the water surface and 
often twist and turn as they bob so that the barbed end of the nymph hook 
may be positioned at the side, or even above, the nymph body when a fish 
strikes, lessening the chance of hooking the fish. The problem of 
maintaining a nymph upright with it hook extending downward is even 
greater for a nymph that sink; particularly when such a nymph is retrieved 
or trolled, there is no assurance that the nymph remains upright. 
Palmer U.S. Pat. No. 1,248,390 discloses an "imitation grasshopper" fishing 
lure including a cork body and feather shafts secured to the cork body to 
resemble grasshopper wings and legs. 
Harvey U.S. Pat. No. 2,501,723 discloses a fishing lure having a body which 
is formed partly by wood splints secured beneath a hook shank. 
Harvey U.S. Pat. No. 2,583,942 discloses a fishing lure resembling a 
minnow, the body of which is formed by wood splints secured on top of a 
hook shank and a weight secured beneath the hook shank. The minnow fins 
preferably are "made of segments of the shafts of turkey feathers cut to 
the desired size and shape" (column 2, lines 22 to 23). 
Means U.S. Pat. No. 1,881,285 discloses a floating fishing lure including a 
cork body and "wings" projecting laterally outward from the body and 
formed of "relatively stiff hair" (page 1, lines 74 to 75). As stated at 
page 1, lines 31 to 36, 
"The hair, being hollow, provides buoyancy and my method of treating the 
hair, as hereinafter described, provides means for controlling the size, 
shape and appearance of the wings to simulate the various forms of bugs." 
No fishing flies or nymphs are known that will remain upright whether on 
the water surface or below it, or that use porcupine quills secured to the 
nymph body for flotation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
As shown in the drawings, a nymph in accordance with the present invention 
includes a hook 1 having a shank 2, preferably long and straight, ending 
in an eye 3. The hooked end has a barb 4. Yarn or thread is wrapped about 
the hook shank or form the nymph body 5. Preferably the nymph body 
includes a head portion 6 having a blunt forward end immediately adjacent 
to the hook eye 3 and increasing in diameter rapidly rearward, a short 
central portion 7 of substantially constant diameter located immediately 
behind head portion 6 and a long tail portion 8 gradually tapering from 
its forward end to its rear end almost up to the barbed end 4 of the hook 
for concealing the hook shank. The diameter of the rear portion of tail 
portion 8 should be only slightly greater than the diameter of the hook 
shank so as not to interfere with the fish-hooking effectiveness of the 
barbed end of the hook. 
In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the nymph is made to resemble 
a stone fly by using black yarn for the head and tail portions 6 and 8, 
respectively, and by securing imitation antenna members 9 generally to the 
top of the nymph body 5 with such antenna members projecting forward. 
Light colored yarn, such as yellow yarn, is used for the nymph central 
portion 7 to make the nymph more visible. 
To assure that the nymph will remain upright in use with the shank of the 
hook substantially horizontal and the barbed end of the hook substantially 
directly below the nymph body, antenna members 9 are strips of buoyant 
material secured by criss-crossed yarn wraps 10 to the yarn body in 
forward and outward diverging relationship. Such strips extend 
longitudinally over about the forward one-half of the hook shank 2. Such 
strips should not be so buoyant as to cause the nymph always to remain on 
the surface of the water being fished, but rather should only be so 
buoyant as to maintain the nymph upright. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, 
a conventional weight 11 can be used on the line 12 secured to the hook 
eye to position the nymph below the water surface. Since the imitation 
antenna strips 9 provide buoyancy at the front end of the nymph both on 
top of the nymph and at least a short distance laterally of the nymph, the 
nymph will remain upright even as it is dragged down by the weight of 
sinker 11. It is preferred that the forward projecting end portions of the 
antenna strips 9 be angled upward slightly so that the nymph remains in 
the same substantially horizontal position even when floating on the 
surface such as when no sinker is used. 
It has been found that the tip portions of porcupine quills are ideal for 
use as the imitation antenna strips 9. Porcupine quills are buoyant, but 
not so buoyant as to cause the nymph always to remain on the water surface 
where it would bob, twist and turn unnaturally. In addition, porcupine 
quills lend a natural appearance to the antenna members and increase the 
fish-catching effectiveness of the nymph. Further, as best seen in FIG. 6, 
porcupine quills are slightly resilient so that the thread wraps 10 
securing them to the yarn body indent the quills rather than lying on top 
of them, leaving a substantially smooth, natural appearing outer surface. 
Further, the preferred outward diverging relationship of the projecting 
tips of the antenna members can be effected easily by including several 
tight wraps 13 of thread or yarn toward the forward end of the quills. 
Such tight wraps kink the quills and spread them outward as shown in FIGS. 
2 and 6. In kinked condition, the projecting tips can be bent upward 
slightly assuring that the nymph body remains substantially horizontal 
whether on the water surface or below it.