Timberline Emerger
submitted by Elaine Cook
This successful pattern was originally developed for High Sierra lake fishing using a floating line and a very slow hand twist retrieve. Moisten the fly so that it will sink. Don't hesitate to use it in any stillwaters. For those who remember our 5-Dot fishouts, this fly worked real well for those big guys!
| Hook: | 5262, sizes 12-16 |
| Thread: | 8/0, color to match body |
| Tail: | Moose mane |
| Rib: | Small copper wire (narrow) medium for size 12 hooks |
| Tag: | Silver Tinsel |
| Body: | Blend of Angora goat and Hairtron olive, tan, brown, or gray |
| Legs: | Brown hackle neck or color to match body |
| Wings: | Grizzly hen hackle tops natural or dyed to match body |
1. Crimp barb.
2. Attach thread 1/3 back from eye, wrap to rear of shank.
3. Stack about 6 - 8 black hairs. Tie in so length equals hook shank. Wrap in place on top of shank to tie in. Cut excess.
4. Lay rib on top of shank, wrap to rear of shank.
5. Blend body materials. Using a dubbing loop, insert dubbing sparsely. Make only enough twists of thread so that lots of dubbing can be pulled off. Dub a thin, tapered body forward to tie in position. Trim any aberrant fibers short.
6. Rib forward in 5 - 6 wraps in opposite direction than dubbing wraps.
7. Select hackle with barbs equal to 2 hook gaps. Cut off thick stem end. Cut several barbs short on both sides of stem (crew cut). Tie in crew cut in front of body with shiny side toward you. Advance thread to one eye length behind eye. Make 2 wraps of hackle spiraling toward hanging thread, Tie off, cut excess. Stroke barbs backward, wrap thread backward forcing barbs to stay angled back.
8. Select 2 same sized feathers. (Note: finished wings will be equal to or 3/4 length of body) Strip excess barbs from base of feather. Butt shiny sides together (be sure tips match up), hold in place so tips angle to the rear, tie in place, cut excess.
9. Wrap thread head. Whip finish. Cut thread.