Yallerhammer Nymph
Fly of the Month 01.13
Yallerhamer Nymph
One of the most popular Southern Appalachian flies used by local anglers for a century is known as the “yellow hammer” or as mountain folk typically call it the Yallerhammer.
Yallerhammer
Long before white settlers built their cabins in our scenic hills, the Cherokee Indians fished the bountiful streams for speckled trout. The Cherokee Indians used early forms of trout flies, fashioned from carved bone hooks, deer hair, and colorful feathers from the area’s many birds. The term Yallerhammer comes from the translation of the description that the Cherokee Indians gave the Common Flicker or Yellow-shafted Flicker, a woodpecker with a loud, resonant pecking which sounds like a hammer when at work on a tree trunk. The cherished bird is golden yellow which was “yallar” in the local dialect of the immigrant Scots Irish and typically spelled yaller. The bright yellow plumage made the Common Flicker a sought-after source of feathers for making highly successful trout flies. Settlers from Europe learned by observing the Cherokee fishermen that flies made from these yellow feathers caught mountain trout so they began fashioning their own variations of the Yallerhammer.
One early written description of the style of tying the Yallerhammer is outlined in a letter from J. H. Stewart, Jackson, MS, 1887 to Mary Orvis Marbury. This letter was later published in Ms. Marbury's book "Favorite Flies and Their Histories".
"The … flies … are reversed hackles, made by cutting narrow strips of deerskin with the hair left on, wrapped around the hook a few times, and well tied at each end. The North Carolina Indians (Cherokee) tie them to perfection, using some sort of cement or waterproof varnish over the thread, and for the bodies the various colors and length of hair from different skins, but usually rather stiff hair, preferring it from the deer's legs. They often cut the hair off and use it without the skin, but made in this way the flies are not as durable. They use feathers occasionally in the same way."
According to Bruce E Harang “The exact origin … of the Yallerhammer pattern has apparently been lost in the mists of pre-recorded North American history. Unfortunately, American Indians did not have written languages and passed their histories and customs down as oral histories. It is generally accepted that it was the Cherokees who first brought down a Yellow-shafted Flicker with a blowgun, wrapped its bright quill around a hook, and caught a trout. Maybe they first tied the fly as they tied the deer hair fly, reverse Palmer style. However, the Cherokee as an invader of the Southeastern United States may have simply adapted what those they drove out already were doing. Nevertheless, whatever the particulars it is clear that the Yallerhammer fly pattern pre-dated European settlement of the Americas.
The original recipes as tied by early fly fisherman in North Carolina and Tennessee utilizes the the leading edge of the primary flight feather of the Yellow Shafted Flicker (Yallerhammer), an endangered species of woodpecker tied on a trailer hook (ring eye, long shank) and trailed behind a gold willow-leaf spinner blade - which probably accounted for most of its fish-catching success. There are four (4) well known patterns including the original Yallerhammer (it looks like a sparse woolly worm), theYallerhammer Dry fly and Yallerhammer Nymph which is a more modern pattern from the 1960’s and the Improved Yallerhammer which was created in recent times by Kevin Howell. There are eight (8) additional patterns included on Bill Everhardt’s website: Yallerhammer Black Fly, Yallerhammer Peacock Dry, Yallerhammer Woolly Worm, Yallerhammer Cahill, Yallerhammer Tellico Nymph, Yallerhammer Softhackle, Smoky Mountain Yallerhammer Nymph and Yallerhammer Ginger.
Roger Lowe has written a book, Roger Lowe’s Fly Pattern Guide to the Great Smoky Mountains, (Glenn York & York Creative Services, 2005) which features 101 traditional fly patterns, many which are unique to North Carolina and including several Yallerhammer patterns. shirts.
The original Yallerhammer and the Yallerhammer Dry were fished by the local anglers back in tge 1930’s and 1940’s in North Carolina and Tennessee. The Yallerhammer Nymph is a newer pattern that evolved as nymph patterns became popular. Fortunately, all woodpeckers are now protected and as a result, it is illegal to possess or use their feathers in tying the fly patterns. A comparable primary flight feather of a Mourning Dove, Ruffed Grouse, Quail or Partridge, dyed golden yellow is used as a substitute when tying the Yallerhammer pattern. Substitutes also include yellow dyed Grizzley hackle and picric acid dyed guinea feathers.
To prepare a primary flight feather for tying the Yallerhammer, first soak the wing feather in warm water, to soften the quill. Then the softened quill is split length-wise and the pulp within the center of the quill must be scraped out. Tie the prepared quill in at the bend end of the hook shank with the top few barbs extended beyond the hook to be used as a tail. Then palmer the split quill forward to the eye of the hook and tie off.
It is generally believed that the original Yallerhammer pattern is an attractor and not an imitation of anything in nature. However, there are large yellow stoneflies in many of our Southern Appalachian streams, so it is possible that the original Yallerhammer pattern was an imitation of the large yellow stonefly nymph.
I fish the Yallerhammer Dry pattern as an attractor pattern much like a Wulff or stimulator. It is easy to see and trout seem to turn on to the yellow color. A simple dead drift even in rough waters allows a trout ample time to be attracted and make the strike. The pattern is robust enough to be a roughwater fly and can serve as an indicator fly with a dropper.
I fish the original Yallerhammer pattern as a trailer to a woolly bugger when a stream is extremely clear and the woolly bugger may be somewhat rejected by trout. The theory is that as the trout spots the woolly bugger, starts the chase, then begins to turn away from its initial interest, here comes an irresistable, yellow morsel of food that must be taken immediately or be lost forever. No time for the trout to think, the yellow catches the eye and the trout catches the fly. Hooked!
While fly fishing on the Davidson River Outfitters private waters on the lower Davidson River, I experimented by using both the Yallerhammer Dry and original Yallerhammer in tandem combination with other flies. Eighty percent (80%) of the trout caught that day hit the Yallerhammer instead of the other fly fished.
The trout consistently hit the Yallerhammer Dry even when there was a numph dropper attached. I lost a trout over 24 inches. Then I caught a 21-inch and a 24-inch raibow back-to-back as well as several more smaller rainbows on the Yallerhammer Dry. I caught six (6) rainbows from 10 to 16 inches on the original Yallerhammer fished as a trailer to an Oliver Woolly Bugger. On a prior occasion in the same waters I caught numerous large fish on the Olive Woolly Bugger so I concluded that the original Yallerhammer is an even more productive fly than the highly attractive woolly bugger pattern. This is impressive antedotal evidence that at least the yellow color is a trout preference.
History indicates that this may well be a fly that has been used to catch trout for thousands of years. This is a must have fly for the flybox for our mountain streams.
Fly of the Month 01.13 Yallerhammer Nymph
Hook: Wet 2x, Tiemco 5262 or equivalent, Size: 12, 14, 16, 18
Thread: Red Uni 8/0 or equivalent
Tail: Ginger Spade Hackle
Abdomen: Yellow Floss
Thorax: Yellow Chennille
Rib: Special Dyed Primary feather
Wingcase: Turkey tail feather
Hackle: Brown Hen hackle
NOTE: The feathers used originally are banned and substitutes are very hard to come by. Many tiers are forced to dye their own. I found some ready for use at Davidson River Outfitters. There is a very limited quantity so sharing of resources is recommended. Soaking the feather to use in tap water, at the beginning of the tying process is also recommended.
Directions:
1) Begin wrapping yellow floss about one third back of the eye and using touching turns, wrap to above the hook point. Let the bobbin hang.
2) Select eight or ten ginger spade hackles (or any web free, straight, stiff hackle barbs) and measure to be shorter than the hook shaft. Long hackle is generally for dry flies for balance when floating. Wet flies or nymphs the tail is usually much shorter. Position the hackle on top of the hook and take two turns away from the eye with the floss. This will trap the hackle. Check the length and if you are happy begin wrapping forward to one third back from the eye. Trim any waste hackle. Using touching wraps take the floss back to the point above the hook barb and let the bobbin hang.
3) Select a yellow dyed feather for the ribbing and pull back at the tip to give a good tie in. Stroke the feather with your left thumb and forefinger to expose a tiny triangle of tip. Tie the tip in with the floss and wrap the floss forward with touching turns to slightly above the halfway point. Let the bobbin hang.
4) Wrap the red thread from the eye to the floss and tie the floss in at the halfway point of the hook shaft. Trim away the floss.
5) Wrap in open turns the yellow feather to the half way point and tie off. The longer barbs will tend to foul as you go, so use your finger tips to stroke them out as you advance. Avoid clumping or bunching as much as you can. Do not worry if it appears unruly or too dense. The length of the barbs will be trimmed before finishing. Three or four wraps at the most.
6) Select a section of turkey tail and tie in, in front of the abdomen to make a wingcase on the thorax. Push it back, out of the way.
7) Select a piece of yellow chenille and strip the chenille away, with your fingernails to reveal a small section of core to tie in with. Tie in on top of the hook shaft so that the first wrap will be tight to the abdomen. Advance the thread to three eyelengths back of the eye and let the bobbin hang. Wrap the chenille in tight, touching turns to the thread and tie off, trimming the excess.
8) Tie in a brown hen hackle feather, tight to the chenille. Tie in by the tip and make one wrap. Tie off and trim the excess. Using a thumbnail, make sure the barbs are along the sides only. Once in position an extra wrap will keep them in place. Let the bobbin hang,
9) Pull forward the turkey tail and tie off tight to the chenille. Whip finish, apply head cement.
There are a number of variations of this fly pattern including the newer flies tied by Davidson River Outfitters: Improved Yallerhammer, Yallerhammer Nymph and Yallerhammer Dry.
- Tom Adams, Alen Baker
Yallerhamer Nymph
One of the most popular Southern Appalachian flies used by local anglers for a century is known as the “yellow hammer” or as mountain folk typically call it the Yallerhammer.
Yallerhammer
Long before white settlers built their cabins in our scenic hills, the Cherokee Indians fished the bountiful streams for speckled trout. The Cherokee Indians used early forms of trout flies, fashioned from carved bone hooks, deer hair, and colorful feathers from the area’s many birds. The term Yallerhammer comes from the translation of the description that the Cherokee Indians gave the Common Flicker or Yellow-shafted Flicker, a woodpecker with a loud, resonant pecking which sounds like a hammer when at work on a tree trunk. The cherished bird is golden yellow which was “yallar” in the local dialect of the immigrant Scots Irish and typically spelled yaller. The bright yellow plumage made the Common Flicker a sought-after source of feathers for making highly successful trout flies. Settlers from Europe learned by observing the Cherokee fishermen that flies made from these yellow feathers caught mountain trout so they began fashioning their own variations of the Yallerhammer.
One early written description of the style of tying the Yallerhammer is outlined in a letter from J. H. Stewart, Jackson, MS, 1887 to Mary Orvis Marbury. This letter was later published in Ms. Marbury's book "Favorite Flies and Their Histories".
"The … flies … are reversed hackles, made by cutting narrow strips of deerskin with the hair left on, wrapped around the hook a few times, and well tied at each end. The North Carolina Indians (Cherokee) tie them to perfection, using some sort of cement or waterproof varnish over the thread, and for the bodies the various colors and length of hair from different skins, but usually rather stiff hair, preferring it from the deer's legs. They often cut the hair off and use it without the skin, but made in this way the flies are not as durable. They use feathers occasionally in the same way."
According to Bruce E Harang “The exact origin … of the Yallerhammer pattern has apparently been lost in the mists of pre-recorded North American history. Unfortunately, American Indians did not have written languages and passed their histories and customs down as oral histories. It is generally accepted that it was the Cherokees who first brought down a Yellow-shafted Flicker with a blowgun, wrapped its bright quill around a hook, and caught a trout. Maybe they first tied the fly as they tied the deer hair fly, reverse Palmer style. However, the Cherokee as an invader of the Southeastern United States may have simply adapted what those they drove out already were doing. Nevertheless, whatever the particulars it is clear that the Yallerhammer fly pattern pre-dated European settlement of the Americas.
The original recipes as tied by early fly fisherman in North Carolina and Tennessee utilizes the the leading edge of the primary flight feather of the Yellow Shafted Flicker (Yallerhammer), an endangered species of woodpecker tied on a trailer hook (ring eye, long shank) and trailed behind a gold willow-leaf spinner blade - which probably accounted for most of its fish-catching success. There are four (4) well known patterns including the original Yallerhammer (it looks like a sparse woolly worm), theYallerhammer Dry fly and Yallerhammer Nymph which is a more modern pattern from the 1960’s and the Improved Yallerhammer which was created in recent times by Kevin Howell. There are eight (8) additional patterns included on Bill Everhardt’s website: Yallerhammer Black Fly, Yallerhammer Peacock Dry, Yallerhammer Woolly Worm, Yallerhammer Cahill, Yallerhammer Tellico Nymph, Yallerhammer Softhackle, Smoky Mountain Yallerhammer Nymph and Yallerhammer Ginger.
Roger Lowe has written a book, Roger Lowe’s Fly Pattern Guide to the Great Smoky Mountains, (Glenn York & York Creative Services, 2005) which features 101 traditional fly patterns, many which are unique to North Carolina and including several Yallerhammer patterns. shirts.
The original Yallerhammer and the Yallerhammer Dry were fished by the local anglers back in tge 1930’s and 1940’s in North Carolina and Tennessee. The Yallerhammer Nymph is a newer pattern that evolved as nymph patterns became popular. Fortunately, all woodpeckers are now protected and as a result, it is illegal to possess or use their feathers in tying the fly patterns. A comparable primary flight feather of a Mourning Dove, Ruffed Grouse, Quail or Partridge, dyed golden yellow is used as a substitute when tying the Yallerhammer pattern. Substitutes also include yellow dyed Grizzley hackle and picric acid dyed guinea feathers.
To prepare a primary flight feather for tying the Yallerhammer, first soak the wing feather in warm water, to soften the quill. Then the softened quill is split length-wise and the pulp within the center of the quill must be scraped out. Tie the prepared quill in at the bend end of the hook shank with the top few barbs extended beyond the hook to be used as a tail. Then palmer the split quill forward to the eye of the hook and tie off.
It is generally believed that the original Yallerhammer pattern is an attractor and not an imitation of anything in nature. However, there are large yellow stoneflies in many of our Southern Appalachian streams, so it is possible that the original Yallerhammer pattern was an imitation of the large yellow stonefly nymph.
I fish the Yallerhammer Dry pattern as an attractor pattern much like a Wulff or stimulator. It is easy to see and trout seem to turn on to the yellow color. A simple dead drift even in rough waters allows a trout ample time to be attracted and make the strike. The pattern is robust enough to be a roughwater fly and can serve as an indicator fly with a dropper.
I fish the original Yallerhammer pattern as a trailer to a woolly bugger when a stream is extremely clear and the woolly bugger may be somewhat rejected by trout. The theory is that as the trout spots the woolly bugger, starts the chase, then begins to turn away from its initial interest, here comes an irresistable, yellow morsel of food that must be taken immediately or be lost forever. No time for the trout to think, the yellow catches the eye and the trout catches the fly. Hooked!
While fly fishing on the Davidson River Outfitters private waters on the lower Davidson River, I experimented by using both the Yallerhammer Dry and original Yallerhammer in tandem combination with other flies. Eighty percent (80%) of the trout caught that day hit the Yallerhammer instead of the other fly fished.
The trout consistently hit the Yallerhammer Dry even when there was a numph dropper attached. I lost a trout over 24 inches. Then I caught a 21-inch and a 24-inch raibow back-to-back as well as several more smaller rainbows on the Yallerhammer Dry. I caught six (6) rainbows from 10 to 16 inches on the original Yallerhammer fished as a trailer to an Oliver Woolly Bugger. On a prior occasion in the same waters I caught numerous large fish on the Olive Woolly Bugger so I concluded that the original Yallerhammer is an even more productive fly than the highly attractive woolly bugger pattern. This is impressive antedotal evidence that at least the yellow color is a trout preference.
History indicates that this may well be a fly that has been used to catch trout for thousands of years. This is a must have fly for the flybox for our mountain streams.
Fly of the Month 01.13 Yallerhammer Nymph
Hook: Wet 2x, Tiemco 5262 or equivalent, Size: 12, 14, 16, 18
Thread: Red Uni 8/0 or equivalent
Tail: Ginger Spade Hackle
Abdomen: Yellow Floss
Thorax: Yellow Chennille
Rib: Special Dyed Primary feather
Wingcase: Turkey tail feather
Hackle: Brown Hen hackle
NOTE: The feathers used originally are banned and substitutes are very hard to come by. Many tiers are forced to dye their own. I found some ready for use at Davidson River Outfitters. There is a very limited quantity so sharing of resources is recommended. Soaking the feather to use in tap water, at the beginning of the tying process is also recommended.
Directions:
1) Begin wrapping yellow floss about one third back of the eye and using touching turns, wrap to above the hook point. Let the bobbin hang.
2) Select eight or ten ginger spade hackles (or any web free, straight, stiff hackle barbs) and measure to be shorter than the hook shaft. Long hackle is generally for dry flies for balance when floating. Wet flies or nymphs the tail is usually much shorter. Position the hackle on top of the hook and take two turns away from the eye with the floss. This will trap the hackle. Check the length and if you are happy begin wrapping forward to one third back from the eye. Trim any waste hackle. Using touching wraps take the floss back to the point above the hook barb and let the bobbin hang.
3) Select a yellow dyed feather for the ribbing and pull back at the tip to give a good tie in. Stroke the feather with your left thumb and forefinger to expose a tiny triangle of tip. Tie the tip in with the floss and wrap the floss forward with touching turns to slightly above the halfway point. Let the bobbin hang.
4) Wrap the red thread from the eye to the floss and tie the floss in at the halfway point of the hook shaft. Trim away the floss.
5) Wrap in open turns the yellow feather to the half way point and tie off. The longer barbs will tend to foul as you go, so use your finger tips to stroke them out as you advance. Avoid clumping or bunching as much as you can. Do not worry if it appears unruly or too dense. The length of the barbs will be trimmed before finishing. Three or four wraps at the most.
6) Select a section of turkey tail and tie in, in front of the abdomen to make a wingcase on the thorax. Push it back, out of the way.
7) Select a piece of yellow chenille and strip the chenille away, with your fingernails to reveal a small section of core to tie in with. Tie in on top of the hook shaft so that the first wrap will be tight to the abdomen. Advance the thread to three eyelengths back of the eye and let the bobbin hang. Wrap the chenille in tight, touching turns to the thread and tie off, trimming the excess.
8) Tie in a brown hen hackle feather, tight to the chenille. Tie in by the tip and make one wrap. Tie off and trim the excess. Using a thumbnail, make sure the barbs are along the sides only. Once in position an extra wrap will keep them in place. Let the bobbin hang,
9) Pull forward the turkey tail and tie off tight to the chenille. Whip finish, apply head cement.
There are a number of variations of this fly pattern including the newer flies tied by Davidson River Outfitters: Improved Yallerhammer, Yallerhammer Nymph and Yallerhammer Dry.
- Tom Adams, Alen Baker