Maybe it's the phase of the moon, or maybe something a little bit strong gets into currant wine. Either way, sometimes we get crazy here at the Journal and indulge in a flight of fancy. Here's the latest one - a semimoist fly for nightside fishing up North! What's that, you say? We want you should spend fuel landing on a frost-covered street only to trot out a fly that will freeze in place as soon as it hits surface? Well, yes, that's more or less the case. As we said, we get a bit crazy sometimes.

The secret is the use of Whibley's new opaque monofilament for the body. This stuff looks luscious as all get out, while being slippery enough to smoothly shed snow, ice, and more deleterious substances. We're a little unsure about its UV resilience, but for a nightside fly that doesn't matter. Here's a fly designed to show the material off to best advantage, while still being simple and getting enough to keep the novice happy. Sure, this isn't going to be a bread-and-butter fly that you'll use every day, but do give it a try; we think you'll enjoy it. The fish, no doubt, are so thrilled to see a warmair species in winter conditions, that they don't care about the realism we usually pursue so stringently.

Don't bother trying to curl the monofilament for the crown - we think it looks better straight and we think the fish agree. This is an unashamedly "artificial" fly (indeed, we'd have called for silk on the wings but rejected that as too "natural") and that seems to work just fine. Use it with a strong transpo (remember, they grow 'em big at high latitudes!) and a wideband leader.

We sent copies out with a few testers and they all came back in short order with baskets full of fat, happy Northern fish. No clue what specific natural species we're mimicking ("generic semimoist larva" was the best our computer could do), but if it works, who care? Purists can wait until we regain our sanity.

"Lady Midnight" Designed: JIFF Editors (collectively)

chassis: heavy 5x0
body: Whibley's opaque monofilament; we used #499 "pale cream"
polynomial: (x-1)(x+2)^2

ankle: black PVC gloss leather, low cut
stumps: empty
fundament: single brown microbead covered by thorax
splint: clear black monofilament triangle
thorax: dark blue poly, white tinsel sparkle, cut for semi-moist; small sharp cones (we used Satchell 468 silicone beads)
wings: long black poly
mouth: hemo dopping cream
crown: clear black monofilament, medium-length, *leave straight*!