Savage Gear's 3D PVC Mayfly Nymph

We announced in 2017 that one of our objectives in the months to come was to publish a series of gear guides that feature all of the soft-plastic baits that have been created since we began publishing our Midwest Finesse column in August of 2011.

Lately, several Midwest finesse anglers and Finesse News Network members have helped us in this endeavor, and recently one of them alerted us to Savage Gear's 3D PVC Mayfly Nymph.

It is manufactured in two sizes: a two-incher and a 2 1/2-incher. And when a Midwest finesse angler affixes the 2 1/2-incher to a 1/32-ounce jig with a No. 4 exposed hook, it will be an extremely delicate and alluring creature bait.

To create the 3D PVC Mayfly Nymph, Savage Gear's designers and engineers developed a three-dimensional scan of a mayfly nymph. Ultimately, they manufactured their rendition of a real swimming mayfly nymph. And in many ways, Savage Gear created a more realistic swimming mayfly nymph than most state-of-the-art and talented fly-tiers can achieve.

Here are some of the 3D PVC Mayfly Nymph's anatomical features:

Its head is graced with a pair of compound eyes and two antennae.

The thorax is endowed with a pair of forelegs and a pair of middle legs.  The forelegs radiate from the side of the junction of the pronotum portion and mesonotum portion of the thorax. The middle legs extend from the side of the junction of the mesonotum portion of the thorax and the abdomen. Its forewing pads cover the top or back portions of the thorax's pronotum and mesonotum.

When Midwest finesse anglers compare the Savage Gear's rendition to the anatomical drawings of a burrowing mayfly nymph, a clinging mayfly nymph, and a crawling mayfly nymph, they will notice that the forelegs and middle legs are in a different position than the legs of a swimming mayfly nymph. And according to the anatomical drawings of a swimming mayfly nymph, Savage Gear has the legs and forewing pads correctly positioned.

A pair of hind legs embellishes the upper portions of its abdomen, and they radiate from each side of the abdomen and under the hind wing pads. The abdomen of the Savage Gear's swimming nymph is a touch abstract. It has more than the 10 abdominal segments that make up the abdomen of a real swimming mayfly nymph, and it is not endowed with any of the posterolateral spines that are along the sides of each of the abdominal segments of a real swimming mayfly nymph. The gills of a nymph are situated adjacent to the posterolateral spines, and they are not featured on the Savage Gear's rendition.

The end of the abdomen is adorned with three caudal filaments or tails, which are similar to the filaments that embellish the end of the abdomen of an actual swimming mayfly nymph.

The head, thorax, and abdomen of a mature mayfly nymph is 20 millimeters or 0.787482 inches. The addition of the antennae and caudal filaments will add about 13 millimeters or 0.511811 inches to the length of a mature nymph. Therefore, Savage Gear's 2 1/2-inch 3D PVC Mayfly Nymph is considerably larger than a real swimming mayfly nymph, which makes it more of a creature bait than an accurate rendition of a mayfly.

It is available in the following colors: Black, Brown, Bubblegum, Chartreuse Sparkle, and White Sparkle.

A package of six 3D PVC Mayfly Nymphs costs from $3.49 to $3.99.

Endnotes

(1) Here is a link to Savage Gear's website: http://blog.savagegear-usa.com/2016/07/pvc-mayfly-nymph/.

(2) Savage Gear says the 3D PVC Mayfly Nymph can be affixed to a split-shot rig, a drop-shot rig, and a variety of jigs.  Midwest finesse anglers will opt for rigging it upon a jig, and they will employ it with all six of the standard Midwest finesse retrieves, and they will occasionally execute subtle variations with those retrieves. Here is a link to the Midwest Finesse column that describes how and where to use these retrieves: http://www.in-fisherman.com/midwest-finesse/six-midwest-finesse-retrieves.

(3) Here is a link to a gear guide about Savage Gear's 3DGoby Tube:  http://www.in-fisherman.com/midwest-finesse/savage-gears-3d-goby-tube/.

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