Hey folks,
I’ve been casting for a few years now, but never really got into the technicalitites of it all(equipment and such) until this winter. I’ve noticed that certain flies get certain classifications, like emergers or attractors. I was wondering if there was someone who could shed a little more light on this for me?
Thanx,
Brad
I will take a stab at this LOL. Emergers are insects that havent completely broken through the surface film or havent transformed into adult insect just yet. If you see fish feeding on bugs just under the surface but dont see any adult insects on the sruface, then this is a good indication that they are feeding on emergers. frequently emergers are tied with a tailing shuck since the insects havent yet completely shed their “layers” that have as nymphs before turning into adults. As often as not I tend to catch more fish during bwo hatches using a sprout emerger even though I see lots of duns (adult) on the surface. Emergers are an easier target than the duns since the duns could fly off at any second (depending on how long it takes for their wings to dry). An example of an emerger would be the previously mentioned sprout emerger while a good dun/adult pattern for bwo would be a thorax blue wing olive. And if what I just said makes sense, then more power to you. Probably a bit off in the true definitions but thats how I view it.
Attractors are flies that can indicate a number of insects(but frequently are used when certain insects are hatching). My favorite example of this is the stimulator…it could imitate a stonefly, caddis, or in larger sizes a grasshopper (this is my goto fly during the salmonfly hatch and the october caddis hatch). Other examples of attractors are trudes,royal wulffs, royal humpys, and for nymphs the prince nymph. Also a charactersitic of the above flies are that they are brightly colored (though not all attractors are brightly colored such as Gold Ribbed Hairs Ear Nymph or the Adams which can be used for various mayfly hatches or even a caddis hatch). Each of these can be very productive if used in the right sizes for a variety of different insects.
Now just waiting for someone to come along and give a better explanation of both. LOL
Take care everyone and cya around. Mark
It’s probably time for you to go through a little feature here on FAOL called NQ Entomology…that stands for Not Quite.
You will find it listed on our left-hand menu under Flyfishing Basics. The series is arranged in the order bugs hatch over the year. Have fun.
LadyFisher, Publisher of
FAOL
Also Fly Fishing 101, would answer most of the other questions you have. This is a Beginner’s Friendly Site, and members have spent a lot of time and effort, to make the learning easier and lot less time consuming.
~ Parnelli
In life, you start off by knowing very little about very much.
Then you start to know a lot more, about a lot less.
Finally you end up knowing just about every thing there is to know about very little.
I do apologize for clogging up the forums with this. I had the post made about 5 minutes before I found the answers to my questions elsewhere on FAOL…just not used to a website having SOOO MUCH info on it. lol. Thank you for the explanation, though.
Dear Humber:
The best thing to do is get some books and start reading. Also, I would do some searches on this forum for key words like: attractor, imitation, nymph, emerger, etc.
But to answer your question in a simplistic way:
Most patterns try to match some food the fish eats. Some try to grab his attention and don’t really look like food. The terms you mentioned relate to the life cycle of an insect as it “emerges” from the bottom of the water column eventually to fly off the surface. Nymphs are similar in that they are under water and close to the bottom. Since 90% of what a fish eats is under water we tend to focus on these types of under water imitations. The dry flies are what the emergers become when they get to the surface just before their wings deploy and get ready to fly. In many rivers the dry fly is king, because it has a great visual and emotional appeal to see the fish take your fly. In other regions sub surface flies are practically the only way to go because of the location and conditions (lakes…) We can all suggest a pile of books if you would like? -Migs
Brad,
I do apologize for clogging up the forums with this
Please don’t apologize, … Remember, … if YOU asked the question, … there are probably 100 folks out there who had (have) the SAME question, … can’t quite find the answer, … but are “afraid” to ask.
Oh!, … and a belated Warm Welcome to FAOL 
Don’t forget to check out [url=http://flyanglersonline.com/chat2.5/:8d802]The Angler’s Hut[/url:8d802] any night of the week.
Christopher Chin, Jonquiere Quebec
[url=http://flyanglersonline.com/travel/quebec06fishin/:8d802]2006 FishIn Ste-Marguerite River[/url:8d802]
[url=http://pages.videotron.com/fcch/:8d802]Fishing the Ste-Marguerite[/url:8d802]
I agree with fcch. The only dumb question es the one that isn’t asked.
A warm welcome.
Eric