I was fishing the South Branch Raritan River in New Jersey last night and had the good fortune to catch a pretty impressive emergence of Sulphur mayflies just before dark. I had some lighter colored Fran Betters’ Usual fly patterns but I wish I had a few of the Snowshoe Rabbit Sulphur Emergers featured in this week’s Fly Night Fly Tying Video by Aaron Jasper of Trout Predator Online.
3 Key Elements of a Mayfly Emerger
As Aaron points out there are 3 key elements to an effective mayfly emerger fly pattern – the nymphal shuck, the body and the wing. When tying the sulpher emerger keep the shuck pretty thin, it should be translucent. The body should have a nice taper – carrot shaped – with a thicker thorax. The nice thing about using snowshoe rabbit is it floats like a cork and a little goes a long way so you can keep the wing pretty thin.
Snowshoe Rabbit Sulphur Emerger Material List
Thread: Uni-Thread 8/0, Yellow
Body: Superfine Dubbing, Yellow
Wing: Snowshoe Rabbit foot
Shuck: Darlon, Brown
Enjoy!