I’d like some input on the three materials often used for creating shucks: zelon, darlon and a material called “sparkle emerger yarn” which I found listed in the Paradise Flyfishers catalog.
Pro’s, Con’s, Favorite colors to match western caddis and mayfly emergers?
For what it’s worth, here’s my $0.02:
Darlon - too soft
Sparkle Emerger Yarn - No experience with this
Zelon - Best of the 3
Not mentioned -
HiViz which I think is on a par with Zelon.
Antron - Comes in 3rd
Again, open to others’ opinions and experiences.
Allan
I’ve used antron, zelon, Aunt Lydia’s sparkle yarn, Congo Hair for shucks on caddis emergers (Iris, X-Caddis, X2-Caddis, Clacka) - fish don’t seem to care one way or another.
Regards,
Scott
Have used all. Now prefer window web
For shucks, prefer zelon/zlon in amber, brown, and olive. For wings, Windows Web or Sparkle Emerger Yarn work. Fish might not care, but I do…
YMMV.
guess I’m just a lazy, no-account tyer
Regards,
Scott
Maybe so, but as long as you keep posting fly porn like that, we’ll let it slide. 
Regards,
Ed
Here’s an additional question which developed based on the FLY PORN.
What colors do you think are needed to match the vast majority of caddis and mayfly emergers in Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region.
Scott, does that mean you have to pay cash at Blue Ribbon!!!
I get no credit wherever I go, whatever I do.
Just a quick question. If the shuck imitates what the fly has just crawled out of, shouldn’t it be about the same size as the fly?
Cheers,
C.
I use sparkle emerger yarn on a lot of the patterns I tie for shucks, underwings, spent wings and on this little fella’:
OWENS EMERGER…
Hook: Diiachi 1130, TMC 2487, # 16-#22
Thread: Gordon Griffiths grey or olive
Tail/shuck: Olive brown ice dub
Abdomen: Stalcup’s BWO goose biot
Rib: Lagartun fine gold wire
Thorax: Arizona Peacock hares ear
Wing: White Sparkle Emerger Yarn or Grey Sparkle Emerger Yarn
This is a killer BWO/Baetis emerger pattern on the Owens River in the Eastern Sierras…
PT/TB;)
Just thought of a good material that I’ve used and which hasn’t been mentioned so far (I forgot to mention it in my initial response) It is Organza. Anyone use it for shucks or other? I’ve used it by itself for wings on small/tiny spinners, for shucks and mix it with other materials to add sparkle to wings and shucks.
Allan
Alan -
My sense is that the shuck should be shorter and slimmer than the adult for two reasons - first, the adult has not fully emerged from the shuck, or it would no longer be an emerger, and second, the shuck will collapse as the adult emerges from it.
One fly that did really well for me this summer is tied as an adult but rides so low that it is mostly subsurface and is taken when there are no adults on the surface and the rises do not indicate the fishies are taking adults. It was probably the first time that I made a clear distinction between emergers and cripples ( insects completely out of the shuck but not fully formed or able to escape for whatever reason ), which I had previously thought of as “kind of the same thing.”
John
Ice Dubbing makes for a decent trailing shuck. I just double some over the tread and tie in at the hook bend.