by Troy Pearse

Recently club member Bob Harder asked me for a list of my favorite emerger fly patterns. After putting a list together, I thought I would share a few of them with you along with some of my thoughts on emergers. Over the years I have found emergers to be my most productive patterns. Trout will often take an emerger pattern more readily than an adult. I think this is because emergers are often more vulnerable—stuck in the surface meniscus—and trout love an easy meal!

In addition to having some good emerger fly patterns it is important to know where to fish them. The typical mayfly emergence pattern is 1) Nymphs swim to the surface; 2) They pull out of their nymphal shuck and break through the meniscus; 3) They dry their wings; and 4) They fly fly away. This means that mayfly emergers tend to fish best at point of emergence. For example, BWOs often hatch where a riffle slows down and drops into a run or pool and emergers fish best near that transition and not as well lower in the run or pool—as the adult bugs have had time to fly away. Emergence-zones are different for every bug. For example, Green Drakes like to emerge along current seams, so you will find your best results fishing there.

Two of my most productive mayfly emerger patterns are Scott Sanchez’s Parachute Midge Emerger and Dry Fly Innovation’s Colored Emerger. They are very similar except Sanchez’s PME adds a few wraps of hackle through the thorax, which makes it work better in choppy water and it can suspend a small dropper nymph (which is something that Nate would never do! ;-) . Just vary the body and wing color and you can match any type of mayfly or midge.

Caddis come out of their case on the bottom and the pupa swims up to the surface and then quickly flies away. If you see fish coming out of the water after hatching caddis, then a surface emerger pattern like Blackhurst’s tactical CDC caddis is a good choice. Caddis are on the surface for such a short time that I have my best success fishing an emerging pupa pattern under the surface. It is worth reading Gary Lafontaine’s classic book on Caddisflies. His Sparkle Pupa still is one of the best caddis emerger patterns, although I also have great luck with Mike Mercer's Z Wing Caddis.

Stoneflys crawl to the edge and hatch out of the water, so there isn’t an emerger phase. However, trout will follow those nymphs to the shore and will hold tight to the banks waiting for them to drop into the water. Freshly hatched Salmonflys are very bright orange, and fishing a bright orange adult pattern (like a Rogue Stone) tight to the bank early in the morning can work exceptionally well. Just be careful not to spook the trout!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Bob Harder for all of the wonderful club presentations he has coordinated. After many years, Bob is stepping down from this role. Club meetings are an important part of our Fly Fishing Education mission. If you are interested in helping fill this role, please reach out to President Brian Martin. It is a great way to help the club while getting to meet many interesting people in the fly fishing industry.

Favorite Emerger Fly Patterns:

Sanchez’s PME:

Jack Dennis's book "Tying Flies With Jack Dennis and Friends" shows complete "how to" instructions for this fly plus so many more deadly patterns. 

RECIPE:

• Tiemco 100 or 101 dry fly hook #16-22
• Thread: Color to match natural
• Body: Antron dubbing to match insect. 
• Thorax: A few turns of Peacock Dubbing
• Ribbing: Pearl micro Krystal Flash or Sulky
• Wing: Poly parapost matched to the natural insect wing
• Hackle: Grizzly or dun hackle feather or color to match natural

DFI Colored Emerger:

RECIPE FOR BWO Colored Emerger

• Daiichi 1270 20-22 
• Thread: Olive dun 8/0 
• Body:  Olive dun thread or Turkey Biot
• Ribbing: None
• Thorax: Olive-brown Superfine dubbing
• Wing: Grey CDC

You can purchase the BWO Colored Emerger and the Midge Colored Emerger from Dry Fly Innovations.

Mike Mercer's Z Wing Caddis:

Charlie Craven has an excellent set of fly tying tutorials. Here is one on tying the Z Wing Caddis.

Blackhurst’s Tactical CDC Caddis

See pattern in this month’s newsletter, on the fly tying blog, or you can purchase it from Orvis  .