Foam Wing Emerger in black
Foam Wing Emerger
by Jerry Griffin
This very simple and quickly tied fly has been producing some amazing fishing days this year – again. You may have seen me fishing very successfully with this fly at the 25th Anniversary Event at Rainbow Falls Mountain Trout, Inc. just a few weeks ago. At this and several previous events held at Rainbow Falls, I have given away dozens of these beauties to many fly fishermen coming over to ask what I am using to pull in trout after trout when they can’t seem to get any takers at all. I first show them the one I have tied on (so they’ll believe me) and then pull out my little Dai-Riki hook box I have filled with thirty or forty of this little gem and give them three or four. In just a few minutes, they are pulling in fish left and right, too!
As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, this is a very simple pattern to tie. I start by covering the shank of the hook with thread from the eye to the bend. After tying in a few wood duck fibers for the tail, I then take the thread in close tight wraps to just past middle where I tie in a good length (4 to 6 inches) of white closed-cell foam. I tie this in with the material hanging over the tail or vise-side of my hook and trim off the excess foam on the opposite or eye-side of the hook.
I started tying this with “Larva Lace Dry” closed-cell pre-cut foam strips – they work very well, but are not always cut to the same width. I have since stared cutting my own strips using a rotary cutter, straight edge and self-healing cutting board. The best foam thickness to get is 1.5mm, but I have used as thick as 3mm and cut strips about 1.5mm wide – difficult, but still possible with a good sharp rotary cutter. Let’s get back to the fly pattern.
Dub a tightly balled thorax right over where you just tied in the foam. Leave just enough room to finish off the fly by pulling the foam over the thorax tightly and securing with two wraps of thread and a whip finish – glue if desired.
The final step is to trim off the extra foam to create the foam “wing.” I usually like to trim my wings with a bit of a taper. You can leave the wing pretty long – a full hook length, if desired – and trim on-stream if you find you need a shorter wing.
I have fished this nymph successfully as both a fully submerged trailer dragging the bottom in tandem with a larger Copper John or a San Juan worm, and as a full-fledged emerger floating in the surface film just behind a parachute Adams or a dry BWO pattern. Pick your favorite color, too, as I also tie this in gray, brown, and olive. Black and gray are my most favorite colors in sizes 18 to 22.
Tie one of these on next time the trout are sipping the surface all around you and can’t find anything else to work. You just might find yourself pulling in a dozen fish in the next dozen casts!
The Pattern
| Hook: | Tiemco 2487 or Dai-Riki 135, sizes 16 to 24 |
| Thread: | 10/0 or 8/0 black or gray |
| Tail: | 4 or 5 wood duck fibers |
| Thorax: | Black or gray super-fine dubbing to match thread |
| Wing Case: | White closed-cell foam |
