Loop Wing Drake Emerger

This fly was tied to be prepared for a drake hatch if one developed yesterday like the one that I witnessed on a certain Western Montana mountain freestone stream recently. The fly is based on my loop wing mahogany dun emerger from last year, and both flies are quite similar to Ralph Long's LTD ( Long's Transitional Dun ) flies.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...097_edited.jpg

The back half on the fly is basically a Pheasant Tail nymph ( pheasant tail fibers for shuck and body ribbed with copper wire for weight and reinforcement ) tied on a Klinkhammer style hook. The front half of the fly consists of two medium size natural CDC feathers tied in by the tips with the butts to the rear. Grizzly hackle is tied in and wrapped forward three or four turns and then the CDC is pulled forward to create the loop and tied off in front of the hackle. The CDC suggests a wingcase or developing wings and provides additional floatation. Basically, this is a cross between a floating nymph and an emerger / cripple.

It worked.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...091_edited.jpg

Actually, this fly produced very well, accounting for half a dozen or so cutts in about half an hour. A couple of the others were about the same size as this one and the others were somewhat smaller. This fish and one of the others were porpoising but not breaking the surface, and although the fly was floating the takes hardly left sign of the rise on the surface. The other takes were rather splashy ones where I was fishing the water, not sight fishing to fish eating nymphs / emergers.

John

I like it.... and will tie some up. thanks for sharing.....

John.....They do work don't they?

I honestly have turned to fishing them over mayflly hatches about 90% of the time. As you saw, they work great whether sight fishng a particular period of the hatch, or just prospecting water. Fish take them aggressively, especially in riffles.

I also like the Klinkhammer style! Good to see the success. :)

Ralph