Garden State Trout

I had a few free hours this week so I was able to hit one of my local rivers and found myself in an insane sulfur hatch just before dark. Trout were rising all around me so I tied on a dry that I thought matched the hatch but I was unable to get any to eat. I also saw some spinners on the water so I thought they were eating those so I switched but still no eats. I stopped fishing and just watched for a while and realized the fish were eating on the surface but just under it. I didn't have any emerger patterns with me so I tied on a small unweighted nymph and fished it on the swing and managed to get a bunch of eats and landed a few trout.

I haven't fished emergers before and I have a few questions. First what pattern would you recommend as a good general emerger for the NJ rivers? Second how should I fish it? While swinging the nymph worked I do not feel it is the best way. Should I tie the emerger pattern as a dropper off a big dry fly? Should I fish it under an indicator?

I appreciate any tips/info you can share.

Why not try a cripple like Last Chance Cripple. Why nymph when you've got rising fish?

njcatchrelease wrote: ↑

Fri May 26, 2023 8:32 am

I had a few free hours this week so I was able to hit one of my local rivers and found myself in an insane sulfur hatch just before dark. Trout were rising all around me so I tied on a dry that I thought matched the hatch but I was unable to get any to eat. I also saw some spinners on the water so I thought they were eating those so I switched but still no eats. I stopped fishing and just watched for a while and realized the fish were eating on the surface but just under it. I didn't have any emerger patterns with me so I tied on a small unweighted nymph and fished it on the swing and managed to get a bunch of eats and landed a few trout.

I haven't fished emergers before and I have a few questions. First what pattern would you recommend as a good general emerger for the NJ rivers? Second how should I fish it? While swinging the nymph worked I do not feel it is the best way. Should I tie the emerger pattern as a dropper off a big dry fly? Should I fish it under an indicator?

I appreciate any tips/info you can share.

Klinhammers are an excellent emerging mayfly pattern sized to the current hatch and with a thorax dubbed with the mayfly body color. For example, sizes 16 and 18 for sulphurs with dun wing and yellow thorax and pheasant tail body. Change that to pinkish dubbing on a size 14 hook and you have the Hendrickson, and so on. Fish dry as in grease the wing. The key is having the abdomen hanging down below the meniscus (surface film). You can fish other types of emergers behind a high riding dun mayfly imitation as your dropper - dry or subsurface, and then let the trout tell you which they prefer.

That said, the very first thing fly anglers fishing a hatch need to recognize is rise forms. The way that a trout is rising tells you 100% what it is feeding on. Even before you see the insects themselves, you should know by their rises if they are on emergers, duns or spinners (mayflies). Emerging risers will be more "slashing" in nature. The head and dorsal steady rise means they are focused on the duns. A nearly imperceptible "sip" means they are focused on spinners. And if they are on spinners which they often are early and late in the day, most any rusty spinner sized close to the hatch is all you will need. If you have difficulty fishing those in low light, tie some with snowshoe rabbit foot wings. Much easier to see.

I find a Pheasant tail soft hackle fished dry works on most mayfly hatches as an emerger. Tie them on dry fly hooks and use thread instead of wire....you can also swing it wet....doesn't always work, but it did the other night during a sulphur hatch.

lightenup wrote: ↑

Fri May 26, 2023 12:39 pm

I find a Pheasant tail soft hackle fished dry works on most mayfly hatches as an emerger. Tie them on dry fly hooks and use thread instead of wire....you can also swing it wet....doesn't always work, but it did the other night during a sulphur hatch.

I've also been partial to flymphs which is a PT tied with a full hackle collar that looks very buggy. Some of my better wild browns have come to that fly fished behind a dun imitation dry.

For a Sulphur hatch I would go with a Tup’s Indispendable soft hackle.

I went back a few more evenings and this time all they wanted was the dry fly until after dark, then it was game on swinging a small streamer.

Had a tough evening yesterday, managed a few fish on "flymphs" dry and one on a dry midge...there were a few sulphurs on the water, lots of spinners floating along dead, midges, black caddis, march browns, I think, they were huge flying around and midges, blue winged olives and caddis with super long antennae. Lots of refusals, very slow water, lots of risers, sipping, slashing and purposing...is that spelled right...anyway, it was a huge puzzle, and I didn't figure it out...maybe I did as I landed 6 fish, but there were at least fifteen in the run rising....

njcatchrelease wrote: ↑

Fri May 26, 2023 8:32 am

I haven't fished emergers before and I have a few questions. First what pattern would you recommend as a good general emerger for the NJ rivers? Second how should I fish it? While swinging the nymph worked I do not feel it is the best way. Should I tie the emerger pattern as a dropper off a big dry fly? Should I fish it under an indicator?

I appreciate any tips/info you can share.

I do ok using soft hackles or traditional winged wet flies in the same pattern or general color as the hatching insects. Fish them both in the film or on the swing. Abandon the light tippet though, the takes can be savage.