Martin Westbeek
Emerger
Easy
- Set up the thread to well into the bend.
- Tie in one Peccary hair (soak well before tying in).
- Wrap a neat body, tie off and cut.
- Tie in parachute post - only 10 or so strands of poly will do. Fat posts are horrible to tie down later on.
- Tie in three peacock herls.
- Tie in your hackle - this is a Hebert-Miner Speckled Badger saddle hackle. Speckled hackle is great for emergers because it suggests movement. Natural or dyed Grizzle hackle will also work of course.
- Twist the peacock and make one wrap behind and in front of the post. It's best to do it now because you won't be able to reach that area when the hackle is in place later on.
- Wrap a dense hackle up around the post and back down again. Tie hackle off around the hook or the post and cut.
- With the nail of your left hand (assuming right-handed tiers), push into the hackle to divide the barbs left and right.
- With your right hand thumb and index finger, pull the barbs back to clear the area in front of the post for the peacock.
- Twist the peacock and wrap a thorax with three of four wraps. Don't crowd the eye. Make a few thread wraps just behind the eye as a thread base on which to tie down the post.
- Pull the parachute over the thorax. If you pull the post tightly forward, the fly will sit higher on the water than when you leave a small space between the hackle and thorax. Tie the post down behind the hook eye. Avoid trapping any hackle barbs: use the post as a guide to slide your thread wraps in place. If you do so, the thread pressure alone will push back any stray hackle barbs.
- Whip finish.
- Dense, speckled hackle that to me suggests motion (Emerger).
- Done! Just add water. Any trout or grayling stream will do just fine.
| Hook | Daiichi Klinkhamer 1160, sizes 14-18 |
| Thread | Veevus 16/0, grey |
| Abdomen | One peccary hair |
| Post | 10-12 strands of white poly yarn |
| Thorax | Peacock herl |
| Hackle | Whiting (Hebert-Miner) speckled badger rooster hackle |
