Okay, for April the Fly of the Month is the Deer Hair Emerger-more precisely Hans Weilenmann's Deer hair emerger 2.0. I have tied DHE's in the past, but I found Hans's tie a very easy and efficient way to get a great emerger. I will post a video before April 1, but thought I would get this step-by-step on here now. I have tied this as a green drake emerger, but by altering the body colours and size, you can effectively imitate any mayfly.
Materials
Hook- Mustad C49 size 12 (any scud hook will do in sizes 8 to 16)
Thread- Brown UTC 70
Trailing Shuck-A few strands of olive antron yarn (this is not called for in Hans' recipe, but I find trailing shucks greatly add to an emerger pattern)
Thorax-Olive rabbit dubbing
Wing-Deer hair
Abdomen-Grey rabbit (with guard hairs)
Place hook in vise. Tie in olive antron at a spot just ahead of the hook point, and wrap thread well down the curve of the hook.
Make a thin dubbing noodle of olive rabbit and wind back up the hook to the antron tie-in point.
Clean and stack a small bunch of deer hair (when the bunch is tightly twisted, it should be about the diameter of the hook eye) and measure it the length of the hook.
Tie wing in just above the hook point
Use your scissors to hold the wing lat to the hook shank while you cut the butt ends at a sharp angle as close to the thread wraps as you can get.
Stand wing up build a 4 or 5 wrap thread dam in front of it. Twist a noodle of grey rabbit dubbing onto your thread.
Wind the thorax on and whip finish
To fish this fly use a good fly floatant on the wing and abdomen, only allowing the thorax to sink below the surface film. When the trout are keyed on green drakes, this fly will keep you busy. Even when they are taking duns off the surface, most trout can't seem to resist an emerger trapped in the surface film. Tie this in a size 14 or 16 with yellow thorax (I like Scintilla primrose) as a PMD, or use a grey or brown thorax For grey drakes and darker mays. Good luck and let's see how yours are turning out.
Materials
Hook- Mustad C49 size 12 (any scud hook will do in sizes 8 to 16)
Thread- Brown UTC 70
Trailing Shuck-A few strands of olive antron yarn (this is not called for in Hans' recipe, but I find trailing shucks greatly add to an emerger pattern)
Thorax-Olive rabbit dubbing
Wing-Deer hair
Abdomen-Grey rabbit (with guard hairs)
Place hook in vise. Tie in olive antron at a spot just ahead of the hook point, and wrap thread well down the curve of the hook.
Make a thin dubbing noodle of olive rabbit and wind back up the hook to the antron tie-in point.
Clean and stack a small bunch of deer hair (when the bunch is tightly twisted, it should be about the diameter of the hook eye) and measure it the length of the hook.
Tie wing in just above the hook point
Use your scissors to hold the wing lat to the hook shank while you cut the butt ends at a sharp angle as close to the thread wraps as you can get.
Stand wing up build a 4 or 5 wrap thread dam in front of it. Twist a noodle of grey rabbit dubbing onto your thread.
Wind the thorax on and whip finish
To fish this fly use a good fly floatant on the wing and abdomen, only allowing the thorax to sink below the surface film. When the trout are keyed on green drakes, this fly will keep you busy. Even when they are taking duns off the surface, most trout can't seem to resist an emerger trapped in the surface film. Tie this in a size 14 or 16 with yellow thorax (I like Scintilla primrose) as a PMD, or use a grey or brown thorax For grey drakes and darker mays. Good luck and let's see how yours are turning out.