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The Cut-Wing Emerger

The Cut-Wing Emerger is a fairly easy tie that can be adapted for several situations. The basic idea of this fly is to present a strong wing shape in the context of the "emerger" concept. It also provides something to do with that nifty set of brass wing-burners gathering dust in the cabinet.

"Emergers" are aquatic insects in the transitional phase between the nymph or pupa that lives on the stream bottom and the winged insect you see fluttering from the surface. Many mayfly and caddis fly species share the characteristic process of swimming to the surface where the winged form escapes the nymphal skin. The struggling "emerger" is vulnerable at this point and may get stuck or swamped. Trout often key in on the insects at this stage, particularly during the early part of the hatch.

Most emerger patterns use hair-clump wings for buoyancy and these tend to work fine most of the time. On occasion, the trout seem to prefer a stronger wing form, which is what the Cut-Wing Emerger provides. The pattern features cut or burned wings, smaller and shorter than the full wings of a dun and angled back over the body in order to give the impression of an insect halted in the middle of the emerging process.

I first gained confidence in this fly on the Smith River during a decent hatch of Sulfur Duns one May afternoon when the water temperature was a particularly brisk 48 degrees: Prepared and in the water when the dorotheas began to emerge, I had caught only one small Brown Trout after half an hour of the usual offerings. Seeing that the duns were emerging rather slowly, presumably because of the cold water temperature, I tied on a Sulfur Cut-Wing Emerger and rose twenty-one Smith River Browns in just over an hour.

The mayfly imitations we call Little Blue-Winged Olives often require a strong wing-form to draw strikes from actively feeding trout. I have no idea why this should be so, but it is. The same rule holds true with emergers and it is a good idea to carry some smallish Olive Cut-Wing Emergers in sizes 18 and 20. During a hatch of Pseudoocloeon carolina on the South Fork of the Holston I caught and released thirty-three wild Rainbows and a holdover Brown on these emergers during three hours of a late summer day.

There are two types of emergers, the "emerging nymph" and the "emerging dun." An emerging nymph represents the stage where the insect is popping out of the aquatic skin; the tail and body imitate those of the nymph. An emerging dun represents an insect that has left the skin and is struggling to break through the surface film; the tail and body imitate those of the dun.

Emerging nymphs are tied on wet-fly hooks, such as Mustad 3906B, so that they will ride low in the surface film or just underneath. Emerging duns are tied on regular-weight dry-fly hooks, such as Mustad 94840, to ride flush in the surface film.

A "generic" emerging nymph is tied as follows: thread, brown; tail, three woodduck flank feather fibers; body, dubbed brown rabbit fur over the rear two-thirds of the shank; wings, medium dun, short and set back at an angle; hackle, three turns of grizzly, dry-fly quality; head, dubbed brown rabbit fur fronting the hackle and finished with a thread knot. Another "generic" variety can be tied with gray muskrat fur and gray or olive thread, the other ingredients remaining the same.

The emerging dun is similar but uses dry-fly hackle for the tail fibers. The pattern for the Sulfur Cut-Wing Emerger: thread, light yellow; tail, ginger hackle fibers; body, light yellow rabbit fur; wings, light dun; hackle, ginger; head, yellow rabbit fur and thread knot.

You can extrapolate other patterns easily from nymph and dun imitations. So far these patterns have been successful for me in smaller sizes (14 and down) but not yet in the "big bug" varieties.

The wings are made from the larger neck hackles that are otherwise too big for anything but streamers. They are easy to cut with scissors if you don't have wing burners. Measure the length of the wing you'll need (about one-half to two-thirds the length of the dun's wing) and, holding the two feathers together face-to-face, cut them to shape. (Tie them on back-to-back, so than any curvature is outward.) When using wing burners, select a smaller size than is used for the dun. For example, if using the Renzetti wing burners, for a size 14 or 16 emerger, make the wings with the size 18-20 burner.

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Originally published in the Clinch Valley Conservationist, Spring 1994