Low Rider Emerging Nymph
In Fishing the Film, there’s discussion of the various stages of emergence and the files that imitate them. Several people asked me to post the tying steps for these imitations, so here’s the first one, the Low Rider Emerging Nymph. Jason developed it a couple of decades ago, when he was fishing Montana’s DePuy’s spring creek. This imitation mimics the natural in Stage 1 of the emergence process (when the nymph first becomes attached to surface film in preparation for emergence).
Step 1. Tie in a thin tail of wood duck flank feather fibers.
Step 2. Tie in a polypropylene yarn post. The best way to do this is to fold the poly up around the hook and figure 8 the thread to secure the yarn to the hook. Then, make a couple of turns of thread around the very base of the yarn post, just above the hook shank.
Step 3. Dub on a very thin abdomen and tie in a hackle feather. Apply a tiny bot of dubbing to the thorax area around the base of the yarn post.
Step 4. Spin a tiny bit of yarn onto the thread about an inch from the hook shank. Wrap the hackle two turns around the base of the post, parachute style, and tie off—tying off will use up the bare thread between the hook shank and the top of the dubbing noodle on the thread.
Step 5. Wrap the dubbing forward to complete the thorax.
Step 6. Spread the forward pointing hackle fibers out to the sides, fold the poly post forward tight along the top of the thorax and tie off at the eye, forming the covert of the nymph. Clip the end of the poly yarn short, leaving a tiny tuft. Put a drop of thin, flexible head cement on the head and on the tuft. Fish the fly right in the surface film.