Happy New Year's Swap!!

[StevenOjai]

Well, tommorrow is the official commencement of the New Year's mayfly emerger swap. We have ten tiers. Please send ten toe-tagged emergers as well as a materials list.

Hope everyone has been having a good winter-time fishing season. I've been practicing on our local streams with the single-hand spey casts and have come to really enjoy it. I never knew a modified roll cast could be so much fun.

Please have the flies back to me by Feb 15th. I'll be resending my address to each of you.

Thanks, Steve

[Darian]

Hi Steve,.... I think I've settled on a Green Drake Emerger for my contribution to the swap.... I'm tying as I write this note (....multi-tasking doncha know ). Let me know if that pattern is already taken.

[nightgoat]

here's a pic of my swap fly





March Brown Hacklestacker

sorry for the poor pic, but my camera isn't that great. (It has nothing to do with my photography skills )

[Darian]

Hey Steve,.... The flies are complete and will be in the mail tomorrow AM. The pattern is the Green Drake Emerger; a version tied by Craig Matthews of Blue Ribbon Flies. This is a very easy tie and looks to be effective in the Sierra's.... No photo's as I still don't have a digital camera.

At any rate, thanks for hosting the swap Steve. You always seem to pique my curiosity/interest with your choice of flies.

[StevenOjai]

The first batch of flies I've recieved was from HappyOD.
His contribution is a Sparkle Dun using a grey dubbed body that should imitate an emerging Callibaetis dun fairly well.


This is a pattern developed by Craig Mathews and John Juracek out of Yellowstone, MT. It's forerunner is actually a pattern designed by Fran Betters called the Haystack. Craig and John added Z-lon for a shuck to the comparadun pattern of Al Caucci and Bob Nastasi in the mid-1980's and a successfull emerger was born.
Three things are important in tying this fly. First, the wing should have a length of about one hook shank and be positioned at the 3/4 position on the shank. The wing should be splayed about 180 degrees over the top of the shank. Second, the abdomen should be dubbed thin and evenly. Gradually tapering to the wing base. Third, the z-lon should be sparse and about the length of the hook shank. You can always trim the shank after you tie it in.
Selecting the proper hair is really important to this fly. Try to find Coastal Deer Hair with small blunt tips and heavy butts. The heavier butts will help to splay the hair.
Thanks to HappyOD for tying up a nice set for us. I understand that we have about 3 other selections arriving in the next day or two. Try to get yours to me right after this weekend.

Thanks, Steve


Nice looking Hacklestacker, Nightgoat. I really like the use of turkey biots for the abdomen. It gives a thin profile and depicts the small gills that the mayflies have along their abdomen.

[StevenOjai]

Got two emergers in today. The first one is from Darian. It's a size 8 Green Drake Emerger designed by Craig Mathews of Blue Ribbon Flies in Montana. This fly uses a Z-lon trailing shuck, Olive Superfine body with a yellow floss rib, and a wing pad made of black foam. The hackle is a yellow saddle.


The second fly is from Bill (Cyberfish). A size 18 Olive Biot CDC Emerger. It uses a single strand of Krystal Flash for the trailing shuck, a dyed olive biot for the body, and a olive Antron collar thorax under the looped CDC wingcase.

Shane Stalcup discusses CDC Loop Wings in his book, "Mayflies, Top to Bottom". He points out that creating the CDC loopwing is usually the most difficult part for his students. Shane's technique is to tie the CDC tips of two feathers at the thorax position with the concave facing up. He dubs in the thorax and then, pulls the CDC over the top tightly against the dubbed thorax. Then he pushes the CDC backwards creating a looped spread of fibers and secures.

Well done guys!
More on the way...
Steve

[Darian]

Steve,.... I AM impressed with your photo's. They make everyones flies look so good....

I'm really looking forward to receiving those small flies. Especially since I don't tie anything smaller than a #16 by choice....

[StevenOjai]

As Jake promised, his flies arrived the next day.
Jake tied a Caddis emerger in a size 16 . What I really like about this fly is the proportions. Note how the wing tips do not extend beyond the bend of the hook. The Antron underwing extends about 2/3 the length of the Elk Hair overwing. The Antron trailing shuck is about the same as the hook gap and the partridge throat fibers sweep back to the bend, not beyond it.


This is a really well-tied fly. Thanks, Jake

Steve

[StevenOjai]

Boy, these emergers keep rolling in...Went fishing this morning and came back to three more additions to our swap by evening.
The first selection is Bear's Midnight Emerger. Bear must have got excited about his first swap since he sent me 5 extras.
He uses Orvis Poly wings, uni-glow yarn for the thorax, and grizzly hackle fibers for the tail. Poly wings are difficult to cast or to keep a proper orientation in the water. Bear stiffened the wings with head cement so they can be adjusted to small 'V'. He also kept the wing size small enough to keep the fly from acting like a helicopter during the cast. Good Job, Bear!


The next selection is NightGoat's March Brown Hacklestacker. I really like this fly. The shuck is brown Z-lon with a Tan Goose Biot Body and Brown Superfine thorax. The Hacklestacker is, sometimes, credited to Bob Quigley and, sometimes, to Ned Long and Jim Cramer.
It may have been one of those patterns in which they each came up with a great idea at the same time. The pattern uses a paraloop method of wrapping the grizzley hackle around a looped monofilament. (Nightgoat used 7X tippet). The hackled loop is then brought over the thorax and tied down behind the eye. This technique allows the hackle to be placed well above the shank and allow the emerger to sit deeper within the film.


The third selection is from a replacement tier for Artin... FlyTier. FlyTier sent a nice example of Rene Harrop's Green Drake Emerger which he designed for the Henry's Fork in the late 1970's. The tail is 4-5 Teal hackle fibers with a Pale Olive Turkey Biot Body. The thorax is Dark Olive Seal Sub (Angora Goat). The hackles are tied much like a wet fly. He folds the Grizzly Saddle and gives it three wraps, then ties on a Dun Hen Hackle and gives it two more wraps.



Only have two more to come and I've been assured they're on their way. I appreciate everyone's approach to this swap.
Great way to begin a New Year!

Steve

[StevenOjai]

The last group arrived and this completes the ten patterns, so I'll get these shipped back to you within the next few days. The first pic is a BWO Sparkle Dun by Patrick (aka PM). We went into the details of this pattern earlier and Patrick did a nice job with this pattern.


The second pattern is from PaulC , a Stalcup's BWO stillborn emerger that he tied in a size 22. Anytime you try to tie anything under a size 18, it's a challenge. But... look at the intracacies of this fly!! It uses a Z-lon Shuck with rear gills of Ostrich herl. The body is Micro Tubing with a wingcase of CDC. The thorax is Superfine dubbing with a ginger hackle using a twisted hackle method protruding the fibers out from the side. I'm impressed but how long does it take to tie 10 dozen???


The last pic is a PMD Quigley Cripple from myself. Since A.K. Best will be at the Fly Fishing Show in Ontario, CA next week showing his quilled body techniques, I wanted to adapt that body style to a Quigley Cripple. I used a size 16 Daiichi 1130 scud hook. The thorax is PMD Superfine with a Yellow-dyed Deer Hair wing and a Olive-Yellow Grizzly hackle. The shuck is cream Z-lon.




So there you have it. A nice group of emergers for any flybox. I encourage questions and comments for the tiers. They did an outstanding job for this swap.

Cheers, Steve