How do you fish your RS2-pattern?

[Obi 0]

Hi everybody,

 

in search for new fly patterns, I came across this simplistic fly pattern called "RS2". It is refered to either as an "emerger" odr "nymph" type pattern - which, at least to my understanding, are two different animals. Also, the hook-sizes, materials and colors vary a lot when you read the tying recipes.I don't think this pattern is widely used in Europe (where I am located) so I hope you guys could clue me in a little bit:

 

How do you tye your RS2's? What type of materials do you use for tying?

 

How do you fish the RS2 - preferably as a nymph ar as an emerger?

 

If used as an emerger - how do you maintain flaotability? (There is not much to this fly that would keep it floating, right?)

 

If used as a nymph - do you use additional weight?

 

And finally, what size & color does work best for you?

 

 

You see - a lot of questions...................... Thanks in advance for your replies.

 

 

Cheers,

 

 

Obi

[DUBBN 0]

Emergers can be any where in the water column, including on the river bottom. So, an emerger can be fished as a nymph. Dead drifting an RS2 under an indicator with weight, is the most common method I know. Adjust the indicator/bobber to locate the depth in the water column the fish are feeding at.

 

Using an RS2 as a dropper off a dry fly is a great way to keep the fly in the film.

 

I tie them in sizes 24 thru 18. Gray, Black, and Olive in that order.

 

I tie them with a foam wing at times, but mostly use the fluff at the bottom of a partridge feather. Micro-fibbet tail, and normally rabbit under fur for the body.

[flytire 0]

i have fished an rs2 as a nymph and as an emerger using an indicator and the appropriate amount of weight. as an emerger, it doesnt always need to flat. emergers can be fished just under the surface.

 

i dont modify the pattern for the style of fishing

 

i like moose body hair for tails. everything else is per rim chungs recipes

 

http://www.rs2fly.com/

[Piker20 0]

I received one of these in a swap. Looks very plain but then so many great patterns do. Not had any dry fly conditions recently but hope to try it soon.

[SilverCreek 0]

RS2 stands for for Rim Semblance #2, the second in a series of flies designed by Rim Chung. Here is Rim's story.

 

http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_14320662

 

Check this out for the Original RS2 (Rim Semblance 2) by Rim Chung

 

http://www.rs2fly.com/

 

http://stevenojai.tripod.com/rs2.htm

 

Tying the RS2

 

https://vimeo.com/9924843

 

http://oneflyfisherman.com/rim-chung-tying-the-rs2-fly/

[hairwing 0]

Rim and I go back a long ways. We go back further than when the RS2 he was fishing was given it's name. The fly he was using at that time was constructed all with beaver. The tails were two split guard hairs, the body was underfur and the wing tuft was a small clump of the fur. Rim would do some stomach autopsies on a few fish he planned on taking home for dinner and always present was the Baetis nymph common in the South Platte River around Deckers. The nymphs were unmistakable, long and slender, small, having a olive color. Size wise the flies were #20 and smaller if you wanted a match. "These what I use" Rim would point out his little nymph in his at that time broken English and we'd compare flies. If you were to sit down with Rim and have a conversation, I think he would admit a strong influence in his tying and knowledge came from Swisher and Richards book "Selective Trout".

Rim was a one fly man. He also had a very intimate relationship with the trout around Deckers and the Canyon and probably gave them names. He put a lot of time on the water. Two schools of nymph fishing were emerging in the early days, one fished with what we called the "cheater" (an indicator) and the other just the bare leader. Rim still fishes without the indicator today. The method used to fish our nymphs was recognizable; I called it "the flip flop" before somebody came along and tagged it "short line nymphing". The flip and the flop was necessary because we used weight to bottom the flies in the current where the fish were. The flies were not false cast. Most guys were using Twistons wrapped right above the tippet knot. Rim had this compulsive habit of rolling the wraps he applied to his leader on the top of his fly box until it was a smooth slender hunk of lead. He thought it made a difference. Today I think he uses tungsten putty. 6x tippet and a 9 ft.-12 ft. leader was the favorite rig around those parts.

Rim is one of the "good guys". If you want to fish as well as he, you'll have to put in the time on the river just like he did. Here's a vid. You'll see the "flip flop"or "short line technique" in action. He's fishing Lone Rock on the Platte where he first wet his RS2. Let me point out that neither Rim nor I had anything to do with inventing this nymphing technique, it's just the way anybody who was catching fish fished around Deckers and the Canyon in those days, and we all watched the guys catching the fish and learned. Guys moved on taking the technique with them and writers came to town and tried to give the method a name, so call it what you will and fish the fly as you will.

[SilverCreek 0]

So does Rim consider his fly a nymph or an emerger? I understand that trout can take the RS2 fished deep or in the film but I an interested in what the inventor considered his fly to best imitate.

[hairwing 0]

So does Rim consider his fly a nymph or an emerger? I understand that trout can take the RS2 fished deep or in the film but I an interested in what the inventor considered his fly to best imitate.

Of course the only one who can truly answer that question would be Rim.

I'll give my opinion though and say with a lot of confidence....a nymph. 35 to 40 years ago the term "emerger" was not on the tongue of the typical fly fisher around here in Colorado. Just about everybody was fishing either the top or the bottom, dry fly or nymph. There were a few wet fly guys, they seemed few and far between and the thought of a fly struggling in the meniscus trying to emerge or swimming under the surface took some out of the box thinking for the "wet fly" method of the '30s and '40s.

I'm sure the fly can be fished as an emerger up in the film but I've never seen Rim fish a fly without some weight on his leader. He scraped the bottom, where the fish hung out, just like the rest of us.

I did give some thought to his fly years later after I personally had more experience and book study and came to the thought that his fly would be a great imitation of the baetis spinner.

Considering the way in which she lays her eggs, the idea made sense to me. That tuft of wing bud he tied always had me a little confused but I thought about the spinner crawling under the water and depositing her eggs and the form she might take submerged. I considered the RS2...... two rather long split tails, a slim body,and the crumpled folded wings....sounded to me like a spent spinner underwater !

[switch10 0]

I fish a lot of RS-2's in the winter time around here. Usually gray, medium dun hackle fibers for a tail, no dubbing, antron yarn. I carry size's #20-26.

 

 

 

I started tying in some midge flash with the antron yarn, and it definitely seems to help.

 

I fish them throughout the water column. If I see backs popping out of the water, I'll fish as close to the surface as I can get. Usually in a tandem nymph rig with unweighted flies. Otherwise I fish it behind weighted flies.

 

 

 

[Obi 0]

Dear all,

 

thank you so much for your replies! I was not expecting to get replies form people here who know the originator of the RS2 in person. That was a surprise to me, really.

 

And I see myself tying this nitty-gritty stuff again :-) #20-hooks ans smaller ........ wow. I will give the olive and grey versions a try. We will see how they perform at the other side of the pond, and how Bavarian Brownies like them.

 

Thanks again and take care,

 

Obi

[Piker20 0]

Look forward to pics Obi.

[hairwing 0]

Is it a nymph...an emerger...a spinner...could be all three.

So...I roamed the internet and found some pictures that really surprised me. To be honest I have never seen a Baetis Imago or Spinner underwater when I was poking around the streams I fish, but here is one I found that is a photo by Ralph Cutter.http://www.flickr.com/photos/gwibernant/3256096956/sizes/l/in/photostream/ The baetis is underwater!

This image is from a Denver Post article by Karl licis http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_14320662 and I see similarities. The fly was tied by Rim. What do you guys think?

[Piker20 0]

That's going to open a lot of eyes. Great link

[williamhj 0]

Great thread. I'm tying up a bunch of rs2s to refill my fly box.

[FrequentTyer 0]

I learned a lot reading this thread! Thanks all.