Bodkin / Patterns

CDC and Quill Emerger

Emerger · Trout · Grayling · Intermediate · 1 version

Lucian Vasies

  • Hook Barbless emerger hook (Demmon DGE 320), 16
  • Thread White 70 denier

Materials

  • Tail/shuck White UV material (A few barbs of Lite Brite dubbing)
  • Body Natural case (Troutline hand cleaned peacock quill)
  • Thorax Dark permanent marker (Troutline Thorax dubbing)
  • Wing Natural grey or dark grey material (3 CDC feathers)
  • Hackle Dyed picric (One turn of partridge neck)

How to tie it

  1. Start white 70 den at the eye and run it back to the bend. White keeps the peacock quill's natural banding clean rather than shading it darker.
  2. Tie in a few strands of white UV Lite Brite as a short trailing shuck at the bend. This is the discarded nymphal skin, so keep it wispy and translucent rather than a solid tuft.
  3. Tie in a hand-cleaned peacock quill by the fine end and wind it forward in touching turns to the 60% mark. Wet it first so it does not split, and let each wrap just kiss the last so the light-dark banding stays crisp.
  4. Dub a short, dark thorax over the front quarter of the shank. The dark shoulder against the pale banded quill is the standard emerger contrast.
  5. Tie in three natural grey or dark grey CDC feathers at the 70% mark as an upright shuttlecock wing and stand them up with a few thread turns in front.
  6. Take one turn, only one, of picric-dyed partridge neck hackle in front of the wing, sweep the barbs back and whip finish a small head. A single turn is enough: the barbs need to collapse and pulse in the film, and a fuller hackle would hold the fly too high off the surface.

Tying videos

← All fly patterns