school me on fishing emergers

[Kyle]

i was fishing a local trout stream and had multiple trout exploding the surface chasing emergers to the top. so i knip of my nympths and tied on multiple emergers. i tried olive, grey, caddis pupa, even tried a PT emerger and had zero takes. it was humbling watching all those trout agressively taking emergers and i didnt have one take.

after a while of that i tied my nympths back on and after a few casts i caught a rainbow on a nympth that i was rising up to make my next cast! whats that all about?! should i just raise my nympths at the end of the drift to make my next cast. or am i fishing emergers all wrong? hope this isnt a stupid question but i just dont get it. any insight is much appreciated.

 

[turkey]

If I see splashy rises I'm going to fish an emerger of some sort. If the trout are steady, identifying what they're keyed on is important. I would say, a good drift is most important, followed by size of your fly compared to the naturals. Current induced drag is usually a deal breaker when it comes to hook-ups.

The latter part of your post would relate to the natural nymph rising up in the water column before it breaks the surface tension. Trout see this as a great opportunity to eat and can be triggered by the rising of your fly. I fish wet flies like this, on the swing and ending as the fly rises up right in front of an identified riser.

Search Leisenring Lift on the forum. There's some great info.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

Swing 'em, yo! What turkey said is also spot on with the lift at the end of the drift and even a bit of a hang.

Or if contact nymphing, fish a weightless dropper a bit higher up the line than your normally would.

As the bugs drift past you, hold the rod out straight instead of following the drift below you and let them swing under the rod tip. This is more effective in deeper holes than flats or glides.

 

[troutbert]

What was emerging?

 

[jifigz]

In that scenario, tie on a soft hackle or, better yet, two different soft hackles and swing em on the classic across and down approach. Make sure you keep some bend in your rod to absorb the shock when a fish grabs it.

You're welcome.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

In that scenario, tie on a soft hackle or, better yet, two different soft hackles and swing em on the classic across and down approach. Make sure you keep some bend in your rod to absorb the shock when a fish grabs it.

You're welcome.

Don't forget the old trick of leaving a twist of slack line in your hand or slack pinched under the cork grip of your rod hand. That can take the shock out of the swing too. Where's Dave Allbaugh 🙂

 

[Oregon_OwlII]

What was emerging?

The key to the solution, doncha think?

 

[Bamboozle]

If I think it's a mayfly emerger, I better see duns fluttering about, a few riding the water or take or two where I actually see what the fish is grabbing or I might be getting fooled...

Whenever I see splashy rises this time of year, I get my head low to the water and see if there are Little Black Caddis fluttering just above the water. If I can't get the right viewing angle, I just knot one on and see what happens...

 

[jordan7982]

If I think it's a mayfly emerger, I better see duns fluttering about, a few riding the water or take or two where I actually see what the fish is grabbing or I might be getting fooled...

Whenever I see splashy rises this time of year, I get my head low to the water and see if there are Little Black Caddis fluttering just above the water. If I can't get the right viewing angle, I just knot one on and see what happens...

I've been warned before of the little black caddis hatches... An angler sees plentiful rising fish and not a single fly from the fly box catches them until you notice the gazillion little black flies around you/on the bank. Any others concur?

 

[dudemanspecial]

A lot of good answers here, and as you can see there are many different answers that may leave you scratching your head.

1. They can be fished like dries, wets or nymphs. You have to figure out what presentation they want.

2. What you think is emerging very likely isn't. You have to figure out what they are eating.

It's all trial and error. That's why the guys that fish everyday are so much better than weekend warriors like me. They have seen this show before, and know the lines.

Last year around this time I was fishing Penns. There were grannom caddis everywhere....hatchers, egg layers, the whole shebang. The fish were doing the classic splashing rises as if they were taking emergers. I threw everything I had at them....pupae, dries, dry droppers, soft hackles. Finally I gave up and tied on a rusty spinner and hammered them. There wasn't a spinner fall in sight......

 

[6xAdams(Jones)]

At the end of your drift with an emerger, let your fly sink or sink it yourself - before you pick up to cast again. When fish are in the film, there's usually at least one that will take a dry fly dragging/twitching/drifting an inch below the surface. It's happened to me enough times to mention, even though it's almost always by accident.

 

[DomR]

i was fishing a local trout stream and had multiple trout exploding the surface chasing emergers to the top. so i knip of my nympths and tied on multiple emergers. i tried olive, grey, caddis pupa, even tried a PT emerger and had zero takes. it was humbling watching all those trout agressively taking emergers and i didnt have one take.

after a while of that i tied my nympths back on and after a few casts i caught a rainbow on a nympth that i was rising up to make my next cast! whats that all about?! should i just raise my nympths at the end of the drift to make my next cast. or am i fishing emergers all wrong? hope this isnt a stupid question but i just dont get it. any insight is much appreciated.

jealous, I went out last evening looking for bugs and heads. I saw neither and got no love on soft hackles or wets from the wild browns or #$%$#% stockies. I tried dead drifting them, swinging them, twitching them....all for naught.

FWIW my most effective method if to fish directly across with frequent upstream mends to keep the flies leading through the downstream swing, then letting them hang below for a few seconds. Like was mentioned leave a slack loop under your line finger so that when the take comes you can release it. The fish will hook itself and you'll avoid a break off. A softer rod helps as well, I avoid fast action graphite when swinging wets. 🙂

 

[laurelrun]

I was out on a local spring creek Sunday and saw a lot of splashy risers with Caddis and other small mayflies coming off. I knew they were hitting emergers. The swing definitely helped, as did soft hackle. But the fat hen I stuck at the end of my trip took a sulfur emerger I was nymphing behind a heavy stonefly nymph. Sometimes its also good to figure out what fish are rising. I don't mind a chub or a small wild brown aggressively feeding, but the big fish were not hitting the same thing.

 

[Kyle]

thanks for the replys. ill try a soft hackle fly next time i see them chasing emergers. or maybe a soft hackle as my top fly and a nympth for my bottom fly

 

[Oregon_OwlII]

thanks for the replys. ill try a soft hackle fly next time i see them chasing emergers. or maybe a soft hackle as my top fly and a nympth for my bottom fly

That's a combo I have been using lately. Generally very effective.

 

[caddisflyer]

Observe fish and see where they are taking the emergers. If they are near the surface tie a dropper on a dry fly and put it just at the fish's level. I sometimes tie a dropper 4" below my dry and it works well.

 

[NRD]

thanks for the replys. ill try a soft hackle fly next time i see them chasing emergers. or maybe a soft hackle as my top fly and a nympth for my bottom fly

A week ago, I had a very productive outing swinging a wet Caddis Emerger with a bead head pheasant tail OR a bead head Hairs Ear about 16" underneath. Three days later that combo got absolutely nothing at the same place, same time of day, same weather.

 

[Billr]

i was fishing a local trout stream and had multiple trout exploding the surface chasing emergers to the top. so i knip of my nympths and tied on multiple emergers. i tried olive, grey, caddis pupa, even tried a PT emerger and had zero takes. it was humbling watching all those trout agressively taking emergers and i didnt have one take.

after a while of that i tied my nympths back on and after a few casts i caught a rainbow on a nympth that i was rising up to make my next cast! whats that all about?! should i just raise my nympths at the end of the drift to make my next cast. or am i fishing emergers all wrong? hope this isnt a stupid question but i just dont get it. any insight is much appreciated.

I've had great luck fishing a crackleback, especially stripping it under the surface.

 

[Nocktavius]

A week ago, I had a very productive outing swinging a wet Caddis Emerger with a bead head pheasant tail OR a bead head Hairs Ear about 16" underneath. Three days later that combo got absolutely nothing at the same place, same time of day, same weather.

That’s trout fishin for ya

 

[Nocktavius]

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned about targeting fish is that for every trout I see doing some kind of confounding surface feeding that I can’t replicate with a dry dropper or a wet fly swing, there are 20 others in the riffle down the bend that will happily take the same presentation or a nymph.

Change your angle, size down, try the dropper, try the lift, and if that doesn’t work… keep steppin. Remember the sun sets soon, tying knots sucks and there’s lots of fish in the sea.