Sulphurs: Theory and Practice

[CreationBear]

Bob's great sulphur emerger reminds me: for those of y'all who fish to more educated trout than I do, what's the theory on hackle color?

Obviously, if you're saying that hackle is designed to imitate "wings," then the cream or blue dun of a generic Tups would seem appropriate, but Bob's fly makes me think that instead of trying to convey "wings," the brownish gamebird might actually be connoting a split shuck. (On a related note, I seem to remember Chris Stewart using plover on his Tups as well...wait, that came out wrong. )

Any thoughts appreciated...

[redietz]

but Bob's fly makes me think that instead of trying to convey "wings," the brownish gamebird might actually be connoting a split shuck.

That's exactly what the intent was. I've tied the same fly with dun hackle instead of partridge and it hasn't fished nearly as well. (In fact, I don't believe I've a caught a fish on one yet.)

OTOH, a straight Partridge and Yellow, with the gray neck feathers, does seem to be effective. I like to think that the PT one represents an emerger and the P&Y a completely emerged, but drowned fly. But then again, who knows what fish think.

[CreationBear]

I've tied the same fly with dun hackle instead of partridge and it hasn't fished nearly as well. (In fact, I don't believe I've a caught a fish on one yet.)

That's very interesting--I agree that it's hard to hazard a guess about what's going on in those little pea-brains of theirs, but it's possible you've discovered a "negative trigger" at least. It might also be worth considering the hook profile as well, if we posit that an emerger needs to be shaped like an emerging mayfly and not a spent/drowned dun or spinner.

[William Anderson]

I'd like to chime in on this a bit. for now I'll just add that I'll take good marking and contrast over solids anytime. I love a nice dun hackle, but my "go to" patterns are marked. In terms of sulphurs, we had a graduate coarse offered by Prof Schuck last week. Dries, soft-hackles and emergers. He would be a great one to add something here. I have a couple patterns that I like to fish with sulphur dun bodies (yellow with an orange undertone) and marked partridge hackle. Another that I fished is a light hare's mask edge fur blended with natural seal over orange thread and a plover hackle. It worked, but then we were in the right place at the right time. They didn't come easy, but rain, drizzle and bright skies...we caught. I'll have to get a pic of a chewed version of the pattern I tied last week.

[CreationBear]

we had a graduate coarse offered by Prof Schuck last week

Ha, I've been eying that "Tangerine Dream" comparadun myself... I'll definitely look forward to some pictures.

[William Anderson]

I'll definitely look forward to some pictures.

I think Ray has the set. After tying a pile of comparaduns to be sure we wouldn't run low. Trees wreaked havok on us all. Ray mentions he would like to see the SH version and Bill produces a beautiful pattern using all the exact same materials, tying the hair in as a collar. Flawless.

On the other hand, I tied up some quick and dirty patterns, dying to fish some of the seal blends. I would be interested in tying up a few of these with a little more care. This one was fished.

Hook: Daiichi 1530
Hackle: Plover
Thread: rusty orange 8/0
Rib: gold rayon rib
Body: yellow+natural seal body dubbing loop
Thorax: Tups blend (30% claret seal, 30% yellow seal, 40% hare's mask edge)



This one took a couple as well. I don't believe it was fished. The copy that was is lost.

Hook: Daiichi 1180
Hackle: Plover
Thread: 14/0 brown
Rib: yellow rayon
Body: 50/50 natural and yellow seal
Thorax: same



I caught on both of these, but like it said, we were in the right place.

[tie2fish]

I know how good a fisherman Bob Dietz is and would never doubt anything he said about what works for him, especially on the Gunpowder. If he says that a speckled hackle produces better for him on sulphur patterns than unmarked dun, I believe him. Personally, I've always used dun hackle on my sulphur patterns, but I will gladly entertain the possibility that my catch rate would improve if I tried using something marked. For me, the key to Bob's sulphur emerger is the dark abdomen/lighter thorax arrangement, which is the reverse of what a majority of soft hackle patterns employ. This is something I've seen several times from various tyers, and I've done it successfully myself on sulphur patterns, so I know it works.

[CreationBear]

Thanks for all the insights, gents--I think it's interesting too that Sulphurs do vary in color from region to region. Mine down here in the Smokies have a much deeper orange cast I think than yours in the Mid-Atlantic. On the other hand, our Yellow Sallies are a much brighter yellow than, say, out West, so keep 'em in your box if your down this way.

[CreationBear]

I was playing around this afternoon with the idea of a wire-brush thorax for a sulphur...

Since I was pretty sure a standard "loop" of even small wire would make for too bulky a thorax on a small hook, I found that if you make a loop of extra-fine Lagartun's, you can insert a single strand of colored wire (plus dubbing) and the "twist" won't be too bulky. Here are some experiments with color:

Amber:


Red:


Yellow:


At any rate, these are kind of quick-and-dirty "testbed" ties, but I could see using the extra-fine Lagartun's for a lot of different applications.

BTW, those are tied on Partridge "Jardine Living Nymph" hooks that Hans was generous enough to send over the Pond--which was actually kind of cruel, since I want more of 'em now.

[letumgo]

Yeah, those hooks look like they could be addicting.

Great photos. I love how the wire shows thru the dubbing when the flies are wet. Very pleasing effect.