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tctrout

Rosenbauer's Rabbit's Foot Emerger

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In my newest fly tying tutorial, I feature a fly created by Tom Rosenbauer of Orvis, the Rabbit's Foot Emerger. This is a fly that can be modified to match natural insects, especially over difficult trout. Being an emerger, I prefer to fish this in the surface film, typically seeing only the snowshoe rabbit wing when it's most effective.

 

I'd love to hear how others fish emergers, especially if different than the style I typically use.

 

TC

 

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I've found the past couple of seasons, for fish taking a range of insects, sedges and upwings a fly fished in almost a J shape catches best for me.

The pattern I tie has a body of turkey herl, biot or horse hair with a very sparse thorax of something shiny, icedub, slf, glister etc. Something that looks like trapped air or glints a little in the water and then the head is the stiffest hackle I can find which has floatant applied to it, the hackle will sit just in the film with the J sunk down below it. I have to fish this off a more buoyant pattern as it sits so low I cant see it, I look for a rise just past the more buoyant pattern and hit that.

Does need to be dried and floatant reapplied often and I normally change the fly after a fish but it works very well in a whole range of hatches so far.

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Great comments, Piker, and I like the notion of a "J-shape" when tying the emerger to sit in the film. It sounds like your pattern is a keeper, too, and I'll have to try some this season. Thanks for the comment and suggestions!

TC

 

I've found the past couple of seasons, for fish taking a range of insects, sedges and upwings a fly fished in almost a J shape catches best for me.
The pattern I tie has a body of turkey herl, biot or horse hair with a very sparse thorax of something shiny, icedub, slf, glister etc. Something that looks like trapped air or glints a little in the water and then the head is the stiffest hackle I can find which has floatant applied to it, the hackle will sit just in the film with the J sunk down below it. I have to fish this off a more buoyant pattern as it sits so low I cant see it, I look for a rise just past the more buoyant pattern and hit that.
Does need to be dried and floatant reapplied often and I normally change the fly after a fish but it works very well in a whole range of hatches so far.

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I've found the past couple of seasons, for fish taking a range of insects, sedges and upwings a fly fished in almost a J shape catches best for me.

The pattern I tie has a body of turkey herl, biot or horse hair with a very sparse thorax of something shiny, icedub, slf, glister etc. Something that looks like trapped air or glints a little in the water and then the head is the stiffest hackle I can find which has floatant applied to it, the hackle will sit just in the film with the J sunk down below it. I have to fish this off a more buoyant pattern as it sits so low I cant see it, I look for a rise just past the more buoyant pattern and hit that.

Does need to be dried and floatant reapplied often and I normally change the fly after a fish but it works very well in a whole range of hatches so far.

My apologies to Tim for diverting his thread. I was excited to read Piker's J shape pattern, and Tim did ask for other's emerger patterns.

 

I like your J shape design and will tie some up. I hope the hackle will provide more robust floatation than my current vertical emergers.

 

J is good name for an important style of emerger. I've called them "vertical" emergers because the body of the fly hangs vertically. J shape or J emerger appeals to me as a better name. My first vertical was a Quigly Cripple years ago, and I've been trying variations ever since.

 

I see three emerger styles - vertical, horizontal and Klinkhammer. Vertical hangs straight down from the film. Horizontal emergers have the hook shaft and body lying in or just below the film and often include a shuck. Klinks are in between with abdomen in film and thorax below. By emerger, I mean a fly that rides partially above the surface and partially below as Leeson and Schollmayer define the term in Tying Emergers. I know that there are emerger patterns that are fished well below the surface, but I'm ignoring them here.

 

I use a Klinkhammer (C shape?) style for most caddis and large mayfly. I also use Klinks down to 22 for midges, but I've found that sometimes horizontal patterns like Stuck in Shuck or Transitional Midge work much better.

 

Stuck in the Shuck

DSC07592.JPG

 

Because long midge hatches are so common where I fish, and the fish transition between many different types of rise forms, I use many types of emergers (surely way too many.) Some of my patterns hang completely under the surface except for a bit of wing/post. I usually lead with Charlie Craven's Mole Fly, a very simple CDC fly which works some of the time, but gets quickly slimed after a fish or two and needs replacing.

 

 

 

Mole Fly

 

Mole_black_side.jpg

 

For really picky fish, I replace the CDC with translucent packing foam and the dubbing with a thread body. This entire hook and body of this fly hang vertically a few millimeters below the surface with only the very top of the wing right at the surface. This is a really simple but fussy pattern. A little too much foam, and the fly lies horizontal. Too little and the fly sinks. After a fish or two, the foam collapses.

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Bruce, no apologies needed; that's the point of a forum. Thanks for sharing, and I really like your take on the "three" styled of emergers. I never thought of them in that sense, which means I need more space in my fly boxes! ;-) Seriously, though, you brought up some great points, and I appreciate you sharing the knowledge and thoughts.

Tim

 

 

 

I've found the past couple of seasons, for fish taking a range of insects, sedges and upwings a fly fished in almost a J shape catches best for me.
The pattern I tie has a body of turkey herl, biot or horse hair with a very sparse thorax of something shiny, icedub, slf, glister etc. Something that looks like trapped air or glints a little in the water and then the head is the stiffest hackle I can find which has floatant applied to it, the hackle will sit just in the film with the J sunk down below it. I have to fish this off a more buoyant pattern as it sits so low I cant see it, I look for a rise just past the more buoyant pattern and hit that.
Does need to be dried and floatant reapplied often and I normally change the fly after a fish but it works very well in a whole range of hatches so far.

My apologies to Tim for diverting his thread. I was excited to read Piker's J shape pattern, and Tim did ask for other's emerger patterns.

 

I like your J shape design and will tie some up. I hope the hackle will provide more robust floatation than my current vertical emergers.

 

J is good name for an important style of emerger. I've called them "vertical" emergers because the body of the fly hangs vertically. J shape or J emerger appeals to me as a better name. My first vertical was a Quigly Cripple years ago, and I've been trying variations ever since.

 

I see three emerger styles - vertical, horizontal and Klinkhammer. Vertical hangs straight down from the film. Horizontal emergers have the hook shaft and body lying in or just below the film and often include a shuck. Klinks are in between with abdomen in film and thorax below. By emerger, I mean a fly that rides partially above the surface and partially below as Leeson and Schollmayer define the term in Tying Emergers. I know that there are emerger patterns that are fished well below the surface, but I'm ignoring them here.

 

I use a Klinkhammer (C shape?) style for most caddis and large mayfly. I also use Klinks down to 22 for midges, but I've found that sometimes horizontal patterns like Stuck in Shuck or Transitional Midge work much better.

 

Stuck in the Shuck

DSC07592.JPG

 

Because long midge hatches are so common where I fish, and the fish transition between many different types of rise forms, I use many types of emergers (surely way too many.) Some of my patterns hang completely under the surface except for a bit of wing/post. I usually lead with Charlie Craven's Mole Fly, a very simple CDC fly which works some of the time, but gets quickly slimed after a fish or two and needs replacing.

 

 

 

Mole Fly

 

 

 

For really picky fish, I replace the CDC with translucent packing foam and the dubbing with a thread body. This entire hook and body of this fly hang vertically a few millimeters below the surface with only the very top of the wing right at the surface. This is a really simple but fussy pattern. A little too much foam, and the fly lies horizontal. Too little and the fly sinks. After a fish or two, the foam collapses.

 

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