Catskill Mountain Flies: Hand Tied Flies

Below are a few photos of some of my hand tied emerger fly patterns that have been very productive on the Upper Delaware River and West Branch of the Delaware River throughout the past twenty one years that I've offered half day and full day river charters using a McKenzie driftboat in the Catskill / Pocono region of New York State and Pennsylvania.

My daily river fishing blog can be accessed here and articles about my guide service along with this great resource can be accessed here.

I will add more flies throughout the winter months of 2016.

Emergers. The aquactic insect stage between a nymph and a dun represents a vulnearble meal for the wild trout.

I tie different styles of emergers. Breakout emergers, first created by Loren Williams, have snowshoe rabbit as a wing material and other emergers that I tie use Z-Lon with a bit of CDC. All have a trailing shuck which is a great trigger for the fish.

Emergers can be fished solo or on a tandem rig trailed behind a dry using the dry as an indicator when there are insects on the surface and surface rises.
In addition, emergers can also be fished as a dropper off a heavier bead head nymph such as a Pheasant Tail, Prince or Copper John. As the nymph bounces along the bottom, the lighter emerger rides up presenting a meal for the fish prior to a full scale hatch. Best to try this technique in fast oxygenated riffly water of about 2 to 3 feet.

All of my hand tied flies are provided to my fishing clients free of charge since I want YOU to have the best success on your river fishing trip and hatches will change throughout the spring, summer and fall.

Depending on the size of fly, the diameter of the tippet size should compliment the size of the fly and your leader should be at least nine feet long with about two feet of tippet material. A general rule is usually: Flies size 18 through 22: 6x / Flies size 14 through 16: 5x / Flies size 10 through 14: 4 or 5x.

My flies are also for sale as well. Simply contact me by email, text or voice if you have any questions. References from satisfied customers are available and, yes, these flies produce not only on the Upper Delaware River and Catskill streams but have fooled wild trout all over the world!