The Jig Nation came about in the fall of 2019 when the idea of creating a "jigged" pattern came to me. As we have seen the surge of "jigged" and "Euro-Style" nymphs have been taking off in the industry, especially in our area where "jigged" patterns weren't that popular until a few years ago. At that time we carried a handful of "jigged" patterns, and the ones we did we couldn't keep in stock. The guides were catching on, and so did I. Keeping the fly simple, durable, and having some bin appeal was my main goal when the idea popped in my head of how I wanted to tie this pattern. Instead of using Coq De Leon for the tail, I went with partridge fibers as they were more readily available and priced. Our guides have complained for years that the tails on certain mayfly nymphs were either not durable or too sparse, with using partridge I felt that I could accomplish both things. Another feature to the fly was that I tied the Flashabou on the sides of the thorax instead of wrapping it on the abdomen like most "Perdigon" style flies, which made it stand out from the crowd. Other than that the rest of the features are very similar to most of these styles of flies and I wanted to cover the most important mayflies in our area: BWO's, PMD's, Sulphurs, Green Drakes, March Brown's. My favorite of the three is the PMD, where I actually use two colors of thread to get the creamy orange color. That particular fly was killer on the Lower Sac this spring, we couldn't get enough of them! The brown and olive versions have been very successful on a lot of the mountain streams and rivers in our area and even in Oregon where they have been tested and fished." - Signature Tyer Zach Thurman
