Parasol Nymphs

[Greg H]

What does it solve that hanging a nymph 2"" below a dry or one of those little foam stick-on nidicators doesn't handle?

For me, there are 4 reasons, especially for an Umbrella Emerger:
The emerger can be 1/2 inch below the surface (or 3/4), guaranteed.
With the appropriate post there is no tangling.
The angle of the dangle - only chironomids emerge vertically, mayflies and caddis are closer to horizontal.
The tippet is connected directly to the fly (as with strike indicator), but with the advantages of the above.

[Steven]

For me, there are 4 reasons, especially for an Umbrella Emerger:
The emerger can be 1/2 inch below the surface (or 3/4), guaranteed.
With the appropriate post there is no tangling.
The angle of the dangle - only chironomids emerge vertically, mayflies and caddis are closer to horizontal.
The tippet is connected directly to the fly (as with strike indicator), but with the advantages of the above.

1, 2, and 4 can all be handled with a stick-on indicator. In 15 years of flyfishing, I'll admit I never thought about the angle of a bug breaking the surface.

[kglissmeyer]

I agree that parasols are not for everyone, but they offer just another option that may appeal to the fussy fish in front of you. I wrote an article a while back for Flyfishing & Tying Journal titled "Spring Creek Solutions" (see Winter 2011, actually came out in November 2010) where I outlined the use of Schollmeyer's Parasol Emerger as a slow-water indicator, rather than the fly used to attract fish. Although the parasol emergers I tie catch their share of fish, I rarely use them as my fly of choice. Instead I still advocate the use of the parasol emerger fly as an indicator in situations where fish are spooky, in clear water or shallow water, or spring creek-like situations and edgewater on larger rivers.

I choose a Parasol Emerger fly I use as the indicator in whatever pattern may be hatching at the surface. I then drop a bead-head nymph (also of whatever might be hatching at the time) off of the bend of the parasol fly and then drop another unweighted and smaller fly off of the bend of the bead-head fly. In a spring creek situation the bottom fly is most often a scud imitation.

Again, just another method to help figure out finicky trout. I don't use this method everywhere I go, but it has it's uses and has proved invaluable on many waters I visit.

Here are some samples of flies I tie as parasols. They are fun flies to tie and are a hit at tying demos and such.









Here is a photo of how I rig as I explained it above:



And, here is one of many I caught last weekend on the very same setup pictured:



Several years ago, the local rivers were blown out due to heavy runoff and my buddy Buzz and I found ourselves on our favorite spring creek. It too was high and off colored but we set about with the method I described and had a great day of it. On one cast Buzz had a beast of a brown come up from the murky depths and pounce on the PMD Parasol Emerger he was using as an indicator fly. It resulted in his best brown trout from that particular water at just a tad over 25-inches long.

Let's go fishin...

Kelly.