#@$%&* emergers

[Jeremy]

a paranymph maybe the ticket. The Deer hair post/wing case, plus the hackle floats the top half of the bug while soft tail fibers and wire drop the bum below the waters surface. The deer post is at about 45 degrees from vertical so the body, when is resting on the hackle ,will be at an angle below the surface.

Harry,

Cool fly!!! I like it.

Gringo, your's too, altho I"d have to make my thorax a lot smaller for my bugs. I think you did well and lets hope they work for you. It's all in "the game." Good luck.

Jeremy.

[brhoff]

Hey, I looked through my Paraloop book and the tails are done in Antron, it sinks a bit.

[Gringo]

I"d have to make my thorax a lot smaller for my bugs.

Yeah Jerome it is a struggle of balance - don't forget that there is a bead of polystyrene buried in there with possum fur tied over. It is difficult to get it small enough to be neat and large enough to provide the adequate amount of buoyancy. Also the tail has to be in proportion of course too.

I've just done some in #16 and the smaller size was a tad easier for some reason.

[Greg H]

the rest of it "struggling" in the surface tension.

For some reason I have always had trouble catching trout that are taking emergers, and these should be the easiest shouldn't they? while they are stuck there drying. Should be easy.

I think the second part to catching fish that are taking emergers is how you present the fly. I almost always approach such a fish from upstream - letting out slack to feed the fly to the fish. Emergers struggle to get out of the shuck and when doing so appear to be moving upstream (slower than the current). Fishing downstream allows me to pull/drag/mend the fly into the fish's lane and twitch it slightly (which may move it upstream an inch) when it is about 2 ft from the fish, sometimes pulling it under in the process. Then the fly has the fish's attention and rises back to the surface like a natural right in front of the fish.

I am not good enough to make a curve cast that allows me the same presentation from a downstream position. Perhaps part of your trouble has been created by casting upstream and trying for a drag-free float.

[Gringo]

You could be right, I always cast up or across. I will try your method I think, one of my fishing mates fishes down with some success so it is worth a try; as much as it goes against the grain for some reason!

[Flyrodde]

Hey Gringo, try taking some flies out to a puddle after a rain. All those flies shouldn't sink. You may have some residual soap in your tumbler that is breaking the suface tension and giving you bum results.

[Greg H]

it goes against the grain for some reason!

I think the grain is developed by trying for a drag-free float, or by reading too much. I was watching cranefly and March Brown emergers flop on the surface of a river here last week and they made quite a stir, they also APPEARED to be moving upstream as they tried to take off (and the wind was blowing upstream too). Drag pulling a fly downstream is very unnatural, flies don't move faster than the current, but they do move slower than the current when flopping and landing back on the surface. Good luck, let us know in a few months how it turned out.
G

[Gringo]

Again - something very interesting to think about from your observation: Drag going downstream may be bad, but drag going upstream may be more natural... I have to look more closely at this! Thank you.