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The Bubble-Wing Parachute Emerger
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Hook: TMC or Mustad light-wire or a regular dry fly hook.
Tail: Hackle fibers, sparkle yarn, wood duck, partridge, deer, or elk hair.
Body: Fur or synthetic dubbing
Wing: Foam
Hackle: Hen or dry fly hackle (tier's choice)Thread: 6/0 color to match the natural.
Tying Instructions:
1. Wind on thread base and tie in tail fibers (i.e. wood duck, grouse, hackle fibers)
2. Tie in ribbing if desired and dub body up to 2/3 of the hook shank.Wind rib if included.
3. Cut a narrow strip of foam and tie in much the same way you would do for a standard wing case on a nymph.
4. Dub a small amount of fur in front of the foam strip, just enough to cover the thread wraps that were used to tie in the foam.
5. Bring the foam forward and tie down just in front of the eye of the hook leaving a 'loose' wing case.
6. Finish off the head.
7. Remove the emerger from the vise and reposition it is the vise with the eye of the hook pointing downward.
8. Attach the thread around the base of the foam, then gently wind a
number of wraps around the base of the foam to form a stem like a mushroom. Squeeze the foam with your thumb and forefinger to compress it.
9. Select a hackle roughly the same size as the hook and tie in on the foam 'stem'
10. Wind on 2-4 turns of hackle and tie-off.
11. Apply head cement to the wraps to complete the fly.
David Lucca is a commercial fly tyer. He is regular contributor to Midwest Fly Fishing - watch for his writings on fly tying in every issue.
By David J. Lucca
We've all been there: Nirvana. A heavy hatch of mayflies. Fish rising everywhere. You have on the right fly, and the fish are fighting each other to get to it. In your dreams!
A more likely scenario, and one that happens more often than I care to admit, is one in which the fish ignore my fly or I put them down. Occasionally I'm teased by a false rise to my fly, or a fish taking something right next to it.
I think that a larger or smaller pattern will do the trick, or perhaps one of a different color or style, a parachute maybe, or a Compara-dun. I make the change, but the results are the same. Mercifully the hatch ends and I leave the stream, shaking my head in bewilderment.
It won't be the last time I taste the frustration of trout feeding on emergers. Hatching mayflies and how the fish react to them have perplexed anglers for ages.
Over the years, anglers have observed how aquatic insects appear and behave when they emerge in order to design fly patterns that will fool fish. For example, various wet flies and soft-hackle types have been tied to imitate insects during their journey to the surface. Other emergers, with wings of looped feather quills, filoplume, cul-de-canard, elk and deer hair, have been used to imitate insects on the surface of the water just prior to or during emergence.
Most of the emerger patterns mentioned can be effective when fished under the proper conditions. Dead-drifting the emerger is an often-used technique. Imparting slight movements to the floating or subsurface emerger can entice the fish to take the fly. The advice of experts is to observe closely and experiment with both techniques.
The Bubble-Wing Parachute Emerger is a pattern that I developed a few years ago while I was experimenting with foam. It was should be fished in the surface film to imitate the emerger stage of mayfly species commonly found in the Midwest (Blue-wing Olives, Sulphurs, Brown Drakes, Hexagenia limbata). With minor changes in size and color, the pattern can be adapted to mayflies in other sections of the country.
The Bubble-Wing Emerger, in addition to catching selectively feeding fish, has a number of features that make it a good choice for anglers. It is durable. The foam "wing" will not break apart as other materials often do after being eaten by a fish or two, and it does assist with flotation. The pattern also is visible and the angler can follow its drift. The parachute hackle causes the emerger to land upright almost every time.
Furthermore, the Bubble-Wing can be modified to fool trout in a variety of situations. If the angler wants the tail-end of the fly to hang below the surface film, the tail fibers can be eliminated or a trailing shuck can be added. A turn or two of lead wire at the bend of the hook also helps to sink the tail of the emerger below the surface film. To get a high-riding fly, apply floatant.
Directions for this easy-to-tie emerger pattern follows:
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copyright Midwest Fly Fishing Magazine 1999
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