biggest nymphs?

Anybody happen to know what are the biggest nymphs common to the trout streams in the driftless area? If so, when are they available to the fish? Thanks in advance!!

Pteronarcys Dorsata, it can reach almost 3" and is relatively common in the driftless. Nymphs will spend up to 3 years in the stream giving trout a good opportunity to become aquainted with them. good luck! Sculpin

OK, I need help again. Can't get the movement right in the tail half of the articulated nymph. Haven't had a chance to try but I was thinking about stringing some really small beads with a tail at the end of the tail hook. Was also looking into dividing and tying in a small hackle feather and then semi stripping the tail section a bit to give it a more buggy look. Any suggestions or words of wisdom?

Dave, I remember seeing an articulated iso-nymph in the article you recommended to me last year. After looking at some photos of the hexagenia limbata, I think I will be trying to copy that particular nymph for an articulated nymph. However, still trying to decide how I'm going to tie the tail section. The tricky thing is that the little swimmer feet things don't start immediately at the tail which gives me both the freedom to extend the end of the fly as well as a problem that may or may not necessitate a solution. But I love trying to figure this stuff out as I learn so much from it. The crane fly larvae is a neat idea too. Another problem arising is that not all the streams near me harbor Hexagenia Limbata, but smaller species of the hex. Perhaps a really tiny articulated nymph? I'm thinking that may be the ticket, but I'm completely open to ideas and suggestions!!!

goh, Cranefly looks to be in inches, the nymph looks to be cm. That information came from the website Trout Nut: http://www.troutnut.com/ I recently saw an article on some articulated nymphs, now I just have to remember in what publication.

Dave, That's exactly the info I was looking for. Now, to do my research and start trying to copy those. I'm looking for an excuse to try to make a lighter articulated nymph as I saw a video of some nymphs getting stirred up from the camera and the motion in the tails of those things was crazy big. I've looked at some articulated nymph patterns but I haven't been happy with any of them yet, so I'm hoping to experiment with some in the wash tub to see if I can brainstorm something new. Finally got a sculpin pattern that measures about 3.5 inches long, swims well, and casts great on the 2 weight. Now, I'm trying to find a light articulated nymph pattern to trail behind the sculpin as if the nymph was stirred up by the sculpin. I've also thought about scuds, but I want to keep both options open so the fish can let me know what they want. I'm gonna go look up all those bugs you mentioned. The crane fly larva looks really interesting! Were all the measurements in inches or was that one nymph by centimeters? Thanks again Dave!

I don't have much of the Hex's out by me, but I do have Yellow Sally's and Crane Fly Larva. I have included flies that I use for each.

Hi Goh.. In my opinion the largest nymph in the Driftless area would probably be from the Hexagenia limbata (Hex) and they would be in the streams and available all year. They may not be present in all the streams. In Wisconsin most of the Streams will also have Isoperla (Yellow Sallies) which are a fairly good size stone fly. Also in abundance would be Tipulidae (Crane Flies), they are some wompers as well. All would be around year round. What begs the question?

If you're thinking along the lines of Prince nymph, etc., I've never gone bigger than 12, and I think actually a 14 generally gets more fish to bother me.