The Copper John nymph is the rage these days, and is purported to be the most-used nymph artificial in North America. This little beauty was concocted by John Barr from Boulder, Colorado, in 1993.

His Copper John, and its variations, is the most widely distributed fly in the contract tyer market, among a couple dozen other creations listed in the catalog of Umpqua Feather Merchants, the ...

Editor’s note: This is another in a series on favorite flies used by the members of Schuylkill County Chapter of Trout Unlimited.The copper John, a fly that has some weight to get down in the ...

John Barr’s Black Back Baetis Emerger. John ties a bunch of patterns available the world-over, and this newest offering has fish making bad decisions across the Rocky Mountain West. It’s basically a ...

To my surprise, and delight, a rainbow trout took the Copper John fly on one of my first drifts. Two casts later, another trout hit—but came off. Losing that fish hurt.

A “Copper John” is apparently a type of a fly-fishing lure with a gold bead, though it’s not clear if she’s singing about the patience required to land one’s dinner or something else.