How to Fish Emergers for Trout

[@williamraudenbush8847]

This video made me really happy. I'm so pleased there are masters out there sharing incredibly competent and well produced instructional videos like this one to help those who need to advance and grow their abilities. A word of caution: when you start to use techniques far superior to the ones you were using, there is a tendency to get tunnel vision, and to not switch techniques and/or flies. We've all been there. (I'll admit i still catch myself doing it from time time.) The best thing you can do for yourself when you are seeking to expand your abilities is to get a seine, catch yourself some bugs in the water column, and get really passionate about etymology and the life cycle of aquatic insects. Watch the fish, observe the birds, and when the fishing gets great,. don't forget to take a moment to realize the conditions, not just the technique that produced results.

[@izaakwaltonflyfishingclub]

Nice demo on the lower third of the Grand river tailwater. Excellent presentation. Thanks

[@richardc6932]

Looks like you are having a great time. My favourite emerger is a Klinkhamer. I find the trout like it as well!

[@RonMTube]

Well done and very helpful. The most successful fly fisherman I know pretty much uses this technique all the time.

[@eyeintheskiesdavid9277]

I wish that i had found this video before it really helped me out alot i was fishing the other day and had the greatest day fishing in years catching fish after fish because I was always retrieving with the figure 8 and never got any takes untill I tried your tips and had the best day ive ever had fly fishing thank you so much for making this video really helped me out alot thank you so much for tips and techniques really helped me tight line's my friend keep safe and catch you on the next video 🤝👍

[@hooked4lifeca]

Always nice to hear . . .

[@tomlevine9889]

Thanks so much for the instructive video. I've only been fishing for a little over a year, and the river I most commonly fish does not have huge hatches or even visible insects on the water, but there have been days where you see vertical fish or "bulges" on the water. I missed the fish completely by either fishing a weighted nymph setup or trying to float dries. I can't wait to try the emerger technique.

[@canadiangemstones7636]

That is some tough water right there, you did well!

[@DAVIDDAMIENR]

GREAT VIDEO !!!! Thank You for sharing !!!!

[@2minuteexplained]

Great video! Straight to the point :)

[@tylervisina31]

Quite a nice looking flash of a trout at 2:29 exactly downstream of the fisherman

[@hooked4lifeca]

Ya, I had caught him a few weeks earlier and I was hoping he'd come back for round two while the cameras were rolling - no luck. He usually hangs around the bridge pier. There's usually a big school of suckers that hang out there and he picks off whatever they stir up. I had caught him the first time on the cahill wet.

[@troutstalker7855]

thank you for all the good advise and tips.. you da boss..tight lines. i sub

[@etclarke]

great advice. tight lines.

[@snappakingie]

Great video, I learnt a lot from this Thanks.

[@Audball90]

very helpful video. thanks!

[@vishnudass371]

great demo. this video helped me to understand more clearly that the difference between fishing a nymph and an emerger. I want to make sure I understand correctly. The nymph rides deeper in the current as it may recently crawled out of is casing, whereas the emerger is just about to reach the surface, but not quite. Is this correct? If so, would not emergers and nymphs be effective during these times, as it seems like a short period between both phases of the insects life? Thanks again

[@hooked4lifeca]

Nymphs are the larval stage of the insect that live along the bottom. For Mayflies, the nymph will swim to the surface and then split out of its skin to emerge as an adult. Caddisflies go through a pupal stage and depending on the species, they can emerge close to the bottom and swim up as a fully formed adult, or swim to the surface as a pupa and emerge there.

[@vishnudass371]

Thanks that helps. Is a wet fly and emerger the same thing essentially. So many terms, trying to sort them out slowly.

[@hooked4lifeca]

They're similar, but flies tied as emergers are usually intended to be dead drifted in the surface film. They're often characterized by a hump of material on the top to imitate a wing stuck half way out of the skin. Often this hump is made out of floating material like foam. Wet flies are designed to sink and generally they're fished with some movement. We don't normally see a wing hump on wet flies, but we often do see wings like the one in my Cahill wet fly video. There are also classic soft hackled wet flies that are quite simple in construction. Yorkshire wets like the Partridge and Orange are composed of a body and a soft hackle tied as a collar.

[@vishnudass371]

thanks for the info, much appreciated

[@gregkosinski2303]

@@hooked4lifecathis would actually be a good idea for a video, Peter. A longer one showing the classes of flies and how they’re fished. Simon Gawesworth has some longer content like that, but I don’t think anyone has put out a comprehensive video really breaking down the classes of flies. In fact, I don’t think the books I read when I started did either. They would tend to go dry-nymph-streamer but not get into the nitty gritty.

[@andrewbowen8122]

Fascinating stuff. On my local river I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen fish rising, only to put on a nice hackled dry fly with no drift and yet the fish have refused infact not even looked at the dry? I’m guessing that these fish would be taking emergers?

[@hooked4lifeca]

Probably. There are other possibilities, but the fish taking emergers is high on the list. Look for either bulging riseforms or small fish rocketing out of the water. Either one is a sign of fish taking emergers.

[@andrewbowen8122]

@@hooked4lifeca Thanks for the reply. I’m not new to fly fishing either but it’s always been wets, nymphs or dry flys and after seeing this I now realised I’ve missed out on a lot of fish because of it.

[@PRACERZ]

Nicely explained, thank you !!

[@TZ3Z]

best video ever made

[@MrBlazeHernandez]

Great video, thank you

[@colintoupin]

Great video! Thank you!

[@clammerify]

Hi Peter, great vid and quick question. Do you ever fish emergers off a dry (eye/bend of hook) or just solo?

[@hooked4lifeca]

I have where regulations allow, but most of the trout water in Ontario is single barbless hook only, so the dry and dropper is illegal.

[@clammerify]

@@hooked4lifeca thanks!

[@carlmoeller56]

Great tips!

[@tim3854]

I've a confession to make, I've fly fished a long time but very seldom fish dries, and when I do fish dries it's usually a big terrestrial. My question is: do adult mayfly actually spend much time sitting on the water once hatched? I didn't think they did, but could be wrong. If they don't, wouldn't we be better off exclusively using emergers rather than duns? I'm just trying to understand why there are so many mayfly dry patterns and why they're popular. I guess they obviously must work!

[@hooked4lifeca]

The time spent riding on the water varies from species to species, but all have the same problem: they must pump blood into their wings to stiffen and unfurl them for flight. That takes time and makes them available for fish. In the later clips in the video, the small dots on the water are duns that started to show up toward the end of the shoot. Fishing dries is a lot of fun, so if the fish are taking the duns, I'll be fishing a dry.

[@shad3128]

I've never fished emergers before but I do have a couple in my box and would love to give them a try after watching this. You explained it very simple and directly! Do you use a small split shot to get the emerger sub-surface?

[@hooked4lifeca]

+chris shadis Usually I don't as emerger activity for the most part occurs in the surface film or a few inches below it. On the day this video was shot, most of the fish wanted the fly a few inches deep and presented actively with movement. Shallower, deeper or dead drifted had less action. If you look carefully in one of the early clips, the fish hits as I'm in mid mend. I moved the fly slightly while mending and that elicited the strike. Some caddis start emerging deep while some stoneflies crawl on to rocks or reeds to emerge, but for the most part emerger fishing takes place in the surface film or just below it so splitshot would actually work against us.

[@shad3128]

Gotcha, so pretty much the same setup as fishing a dry?

[@hooked4lifeca]

+chris shadis Yes, as most emerger patterns are either designed to sit in the surface film or sink on their own. A sinking wet fly on a dry fly, tapered, mono leader will end up where we want it - a few inches under.

[@johnhoyle1647]

Just to clarify, your fishing an emerger at the end of your leader/tippet, no indicator? And swinging it almost as a wet fly? As well as a dead drift? Thanks for the video, got yourself a subscriber.

[@hooked4lifeca]

Correct. I don't use an indicator as I'm fishing the fly in the surface film or just below it. I can see/feel the strike. I dead drift then swing out with a pulse action. Emergers can move fast so movement can trigger a strike.

[@johnhoyle1647]

@@hooked4lifeca thank you so much, whatching your video and your response helps to clarify everything! Cheers from western North Carolina!!

[@hooked4lifeca]

@@johnhoyle1647 Western NC, eh? Fished a few creeks in the Smokies back in the late 90's. Lovely spot.

[@johnhoyle1647]

@@hooked4lifeca I live about ten minutes from the headwaters of the French Broad River. We’ve really got some lovely water here..

[@AdamCraigOutdoors]

will this work ok with a indicator on stillwater?

[@hooked4lifeca]

Sorry for missing this question. Probably, but I don't do still water trout fishing, mostly bass, pike, etc. but not trout, so I can't say for sure. I'd suggest checking out the information provided by Brian Chan as he's one of the best out there at this craft.

[@michagradon3934]

I just have a one question. Where is it?

[@hooked4lifeca]

Grand River, Ontario, Canada

[@michagradon3934]

Thank you

[@robertandersson331]

thanks

[@bigmick812]

Add flotant???

[@hooked4lifeca]

Not in this case as the fish wanted the fly a few inches under, but we could grease the leader with it or the fly if we wanted a surface film presentation of a cripple (stuck in shuck).

[@Man-ug9yh]

Fly fish 🐠 s so don't fferent because i had a meeting sh on and the door dnt even fill the take the only way I knew was when I went to cast the line

[@Mark_Thompson_Author]

NOBODY, but NOBODY EVER tells the novice what leader material, what length, and just HOW to present a fly i.e. HOW do you keep a buzzer, or nymph for example (or an emerges) in the top 18 inches of water... without using an indicator / float etc, which spooks fish and ruins chances of actually catching a fish... Anyone know a BOOK that has DIAGRAMS and FULL EXPLANATIONS of real fish catching tactics??? ALL KZbin videos TALK about how to catch fish, then there follows 15 minutes of some guy catching great fish, but with ZERO real explanation of leader types - i.e. whether a particular type of tippet floats, sinks, etc. and whether to fish a particular fly (i.e. bead on NO bead) etc. etc. etc. If I was learning to drive, I WOULD NOT take a single lesson from ANY KZbin fly fishing 'beginners' video instructor.... Someone please point me to the right book! (PS I regularly catch trout - but only fish on still waters in UK which I really enjoy, but I often miss out too when other anglers are catching - I lack real knowledge, but, try as I might, I can't find a decent book on tactics...)

[@hooked4lifeca]

And how long is this video of yours to be? 5 hours, 10, 20? How many beginner's would sit through it? How many would remember much after being bombarded with so much info. You're suggesting we spoon feed everything to beginners. How do you think knowledgeable anglers learned their trade? They weren't spoon fed everything. They spent time on the water and learned by fishing. They learned by seeing what worked and what didn't work. KZbin videos have to be short and cover a limited amount of information. They're meant to be a starting point, from which people can progress on their own. No one video can provide answers to everything, nor should any video even try. At some point, people have to take responsibility for their own learning.

[@patsheridan]

@@hooked4lifeca I have to say, I have been fly fishing for about 4 years, and I have watched PLENTY of videos. But I am just now starting to feel like I am making progress and it is simply due to time on the water putting to practice what I have learned from the vids and a few books. The biggest challenge to improving is finding the time to be out on the water. As much as I enjoy the vids, it is the actual fishing that allows for progress.