A flymph is a fly that represents the stage of life that is in between a nymph and a fully emerged adult (and no, I'm not getting technical distinguishing between duns and spinners). In other words it is an emerger. A flymph is very versatile in the hands of a skilled or not so skilled fly fisher because it can be fished as a dry or as a wet.
Why Makes a Flymph Different from a Soft Hackle
First and foremost, a flymph is not just hackle. A flymph has a loosely dubbed body that allows the tying thread to show through, a tail consisting of hackle fibers, and a hackle that is wound 3-4 times from the eye of the hook back towards the bend. Genetic hen is the hackle of choice.
In contrast, a soft hackle generally has a simple thread only body followed by a hackle wound sparsely just behind the eye of the hook.
Generic Flymph
The flymphs below are generic tied with hare's ear dubbing and furnace hen hackle.
Step 1 - Tie in the hackle just behind the eye of the hook by the stem. The hackle should stick out beyond the eye with the dull side facing toward you. This will allow you to wrap the hackle back towards the bend later.
Step 2 - Wrap the thread back to the bend of the hook and tie in the tail. The tail consists of a few hackle fibers from the same hackle that you just tied in.
Step 3 - Use a needle to split your thread and insert dubbing into the opening. Spin the thread to lock in the fibers.
Step 4 - Wrap the dubbing up to the eye of the hook and then back 1/3 of the way to the bend.
Step 5 - With hackle pliers, wrap the hackle back through the dubbing to the thread. Then, wrap the thread up through the hackle to the eye. This locks down the hackle.
Step 6 - Whip finish and cut away the remaining hackle tip.
