I have booked a trip in the Smoky Mountains for Labor Day weekend. I told the guide I wanted to use flies I tied myself and he recommends that I tie some sulfer comparaduns, yet I can’t find a recipe. What makes a comparadun, or any other fly, sulfer? Is it the color?
Thanks,
Alan
take your pick
This guy knows a thing or two about comparaduns:
http://www.mayfly.com/articles/Sulphur.html
This one looks pretty much like what I tie - sulphurs vary in color from stream to stream, but I always have both yellow and orange comparaduns with me at sulphur time from sz 14 to sz 18. YMMV…
Sulfer is a very general term for alot of bugs. For our sulphur comparaduns we use a microfibbet tail, with most species a deer hair that is dyed light dun, and a sulphur body to match the natural.
Joe Fox
Mine’s simple:
Dun Hackle for tail
Orange or yellow Biot for body
Suplhur dubbing for thorax
Cdc tied in comparadun style
Hope it works for you.
Alan:
While I don’t dispute the expertise of the guide; I’d call a fly shop or two and ask them some questions as well regarding hatches.
Sulphurs up here in Pennsylvania are as described by the other posters but they are a mayfly that has LONG finished hatching by Labor Day so possibly a Smokey Mountain Sulphur is a totally different critter. I have also heard locals in North Central PA refer to a small yellow stonefly that most folks call a Yellow Sally; as a Sulphur.
In regards to Comparduns; they aren’t the greatest floating flies in the world and were really designed for smooth water and fussy trout. While I have never fished the Smokey’s; I have a feeling a more tumbling stream environment is what you may encounter. You MAY want to tie a more heavily hackled fly in the “sulfer” color you discover is the right one.
Good luck!
Thank you for your replies and advice. I spoke with the guide Tuesday. He said that we would most likely be going to the tailwaters in the area as they have been in quite a drought. He felt by the time Labor day comes around many streams may be too low to have good flows and as such the water temps may be too warm to safely play and release trout without killing them.
However, if they get good rains in the next six weeks, we will be heading for the wild country.
Either way, it sounds like fun.
Thanks,
Alan
Alan,
While the Sulphur hatches may have come and gone on the freestone streams they will continue on the tailwaters in good numbers until late Oct or early Nov. They are a very important food source on tailwaters like the S, Holston. I would tie several types of sulphur imitations. Sparkle duns as well comparaduns are a good start. I would also tie some parachutes and some type of flymphs or wet flies. I have also had a lot of sucess with a Klinkhammer style fly. I use some combination of yellow bodies with some orange in the thorax for the fly most of the surface imitations. For the subsurface I use a redish brown dyed pheasant tail for the body and a yellow/orange mix for the thorax. Let me know if you need more specific information on the recipe for any of them.
Parachute
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/n … 1184695310
Sparkle Dun
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/n … 1184695951
Flymph
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/n … 1184696134
Klinkhammer
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/n … 1184696229
Cripple
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/n … 1184696296
Taz,
Yes, I would like the recipes for all of them. Starting with the easiest ones…
Thanks,
Alan
TAZ,
I would also, the flymph is AWSOME! I’m going to get the materials for that this week.
To answer your question: The color makes it a sulphur, and YES.
At least in my experience, this group of similarly colored mayflies gets their common name from the mineral Sulfurs color. The Flies range in color from light yellow to almost cream at one side of the spectrum to an orangish yellow at the other. This depending on specific specise and river the insects reside in. Ask your guide the color of sulphurs there, or a brand and color that local shops use for dubbing. The comparaduns should have a lighter colored wing with cream colored outrigger tails. Get a size range from the guide also. Hope that helps a bit.
There is a PMD comparadun with tying instructions in the current Fyfishing and Flytying magazine.
I will stick with my CDC mayflies.
Met my first “sulphurs” on a northern NY freestone river about 8:00 PM last night. They seemed to be ovipositing, as the bugs were essentially flying upstream and occasionally one would touch the water’s surface with it’s nether region. Of course I had nothing to match them, and there were no spinners on the surface in any case, though my guess is had I known what they looked like as an emerger the fish might have still recognized that as food. I tried in vain to catch one and examine it. I did tie up a few heavily hackled imitations today. These bugs were definitely creamy colored. Fortuitously, I have recently applied hair bleach to a muskrat skin that yielded a beautiful cream colored dubbing. My wife did catch a couple on a partridge and orange waxed, that may have been close enough to the nymph, or maybe just looked like food. A deer hair caddis with a tan body fooled a couple of the lower IQ rainbows too.
Sorry for the delay. You will see at least 2 distinct species of sulphurs. Even though the overall color will be a pale yellow, they will also have varying amounts of orange in the thorax area.
Sulphur parachute
Hook-TMC 100 (sz14-18)
Thread-yellow 8/0 Uni
Tail-med dun hackle fibers
Body-yellow turkey biot
Thorax- Fly Rite #33 orange sulphur
Post-yellow poly yarn
Hackle-med dun
Sparkle Dun * I think the sparkle dun out-fishes the reg compara dun
Hook-TMC 100 (14-18)
Thread-uni 8/0 yellow
Shuck-brown or rust colored zelon
Body-pale yellow Superfine dubbing
Thorax-Fly Rite #33 orange sulphur
Wing-bleached costal deer hair *lots of locals like a wing of yellow CDC instead
Flymph
Hook-TMC3769 (sz14-16)
Thread-Rusty-Brown Uni 8/0
Tail-pheasant fibers dyed red * a dark colored pheasant tail will do fine
Body-pheasant tail dyed red
Wire-small red Ultra wire
Thorax-Fly Rite #33 orange sulphur
Hackle- brown hen
Klinkhammer Style Parachute
Hook-Gamakatsu C12 * it has a nice flat spot to place the post (sz14-18)
Thread- Uni yellow 8/0
Tail- red pheasant tail fibers
Body- red pheasant tail fibers
Wire-small red Ultra wire
Thorax-Fly Rite #33 orange sulphur
Hackle-med dun
Post-yellow poly
Cripple-Quigley style
Hook-TMC 100 (sz14-18)
Thread-yellow Uni 8/0
Tail-red zelon
Body-red pheasant tail fibers
Wire-small Red Ultra wire
Thorax-Fly Rite #33 sulphur orange
Wing- yellow elk
Hackle-med dun
deer or elk is ok but if you use snowshoe rabbit feet for the post it will be easier to tie and float better