Penn's Clave Update and a Show-of-Hands

Roger. I will have about three different Sulphur patterns for you plus a Gray
Fox , all in parachute style. There's also other patterns that I will have.
I'd wait until after check in before getting a week's supply. However it's
always nice to pick up a few of the latest patern that Jonas recommends.

At the PA fly fishing show in Ft Washington last weekend, I saw a
presentation by Don Douple (If anyone gets a chance to watch it, its
well worth it). He did a lot of underwater videos of mayflies hatching
in PA. His mantra is to tie a fly that looks like the bug, not someone
else's fly. Two things I took away from that presentation is that the
flies that hang just below the meniscus, like a comparadun or a
parachute pattern, really do well to imitate those bugs trying to break
through. The Pirate showed me a fly that I now tie that is a GRHE
parachute. I will also now tie a PT Parachute. Perfect responses to
this behaivior.
The second item is the color silver. Many of the PA bugs hatch out on
the bottom and then pop to the surface (classic wet flies). Every
single one was covered in an air bubble that sparkled. I intend to wrap
some of my flies in plastic wrap or baggie plastic to imitate this.
We'll see how it works.
--
Frank Reid
Reverse Email to reply

hang just below the meniscus, like a comparadun or a
parachute pattern,

there is a great and simple pattern that works for any mayfly in this stage.

It's a CDC emerger. Uses a trailing shuck of brown zlon, sparse and about the
hook shank length tied on a light wire scud hook. Dub a slim body to match, tie
in a clump of CDC. The secret to the CDC is to strip it off the stem, say about
4 or 5 CDC feathers for a size 16-18. Lay the stripped feathers in a pile and
role them like you would be rolling them up in a cigarette paper (sans paper of
course), tie in the the clump in the middle about 2 eye lengths back from the
eye (in other words, normal position for a mayfly), then pull up and tie post
style. Dub around the the CDC up to the eye.

Then pull the clump toward the hook bend and trim (this gets the approximate
length).

Floats like a cork, can be fished as a dry upstream, or down, then let sink
below the surface and fished like an emerger.

killer pattern. No need for any floatant ever. When the CDC gets wet, a few
false casts clears the water and your good to go.

-- Rob