Bob Wayatt's DHE ?

[SilverCreek 0]

Just one thought a bit out of the box here. It is not necessarily a bad thing to have an emerger that hangs under the water surface. There are several insect species that emerge from their nymphal shucks on the bottom or just under the surface and swim to the surface so having a "winged" pre-emergent pattern might be good, Don't chuck your DHE just yet, it might be the ticket someday. Grease up your flyline and leader to help keep the fly floating in the film or just below and give it a few more false casts to dry it out a bit more in between drifts. If it sinks a little...oh well! Fish it any way.

 

There are some mayflies that emerge underwater of the epeorus genus but actual documentation is sparse. More commonly caddis are said to emerge quickly BUT they emerge in the film just like mayflies and midges emerge in the film.

 

https://books.google.com/books?id=n5Q7cMkUWkIC&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&dq=underwater+mayfly+emergence&source=bl&ots=rIsT8EKvep&sig=uA2Kox-rer-tXuFG4HXXdtBgZxk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=OiliVbWKEtCeyATq8YAo&ved=0CEkQ6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q=underwater%20mayfly%20emergence&f=false

 

"All Epeorus duns emerge from their nymphal shucks below the surface, often while still attached to the stream bed. Most species (with the exception of Epeorus pleuralis) take to the air quickly after emerging. These two factors make wet emerger patterns especially effective during Epeorus hatches."

 

http://www.troutnut.com/hatch/59/Mayfly-Epeorus-Little-Maryatts

 

So I guess you could try the Deer Hair Emerger in the appropriate size for the famed Epeorus "pink lady" hatch on the Madison River.

 

"E. albertae (Gray Winged Pink Quill, Pink Lady or Pink Albert). This is a widely distributed emergence in the West. Schwiebert claims to have seen large hatches on rivers in Wyoming and Colorado. The nymph of this insect is 5/16" long and mottled brown in color, while the dun is about the same size and is a yellow to pinkish-yellow in color. This is an afternoon and evening emergence, extending between early July-August."

 

http://www.west-fly-fishing.com/feature-article/0106/feature_536.php

 

My opinion is that when the DHE is fished underwater, it will be taken as a drowned emerger, more properly called a stillborn or cripple in current fly tying nomenclature. But if there are more fish that are selective to emergers in the film, I think a fly fisher should target the fish feeding in the film rather than on drowned emergers.

 

Fly fishing during a hatch is really a game of probabilities. Fish populations will have variance in feeding behavior. So it is really game theory, in that you want to target the fish that are feeding most actively and in the greatest number so the fly you are using has the highest probability of being taken. My opinion is that during emergence, the location where the insect has to delay to get through the surface film is where most of the fish will be feeding because that is where the "easy picking" will be as the emergers are trapped momentarily in the surface film.

[SilverCreek 0]

Here's a SBS for a Quigley Film Critic emerger by Scott that looks very good to me. It uses a Hackle Stacker/Paraloop Technique to suspend the fly.

http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/forum/index.php?threads/quigleys-film-critic-sbs.108238/#post-1040396

[Bruce Norikane 0]

That hook is too heavy. Try a fine wire hook, and it will help.

 

The Wyatt DHE as tied by Hans W. will float with a lighter hook, but it'll start sinking as the deer hair absorbs water. It has very few fibers in the film to hold it up. It's a great fly for picky fish is less turbulent water, but Hans' famous CDC&Elk floats much better with more deer hair wing touching the film.

 

I've done some experiments on using upwings to float an emerger. I was surprised how much deer hair, CDC, snowshoe rabbit, etc... is needed to float a fly, especially in fishing conditions when the fly has been dunked a few times. As Silver says, only the fibers touching the film help float the fly. The deer hair above the surface is just weight pushing the fly down.

 

One technique that helps a lot - spread the wing fibers out horizontally. More fibers will touch the film and help float. It won't float as well as a Klink style, but it will help.

 

Here's a slightly different DHE tie that uses more deer hair and spreads it a bit.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE3R4FkiStY