Barr Emerger

Barr Emerger, PMD (Wet)

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Tying Instructions

1. Press the barb of the hook with the vise to flatten it, then place the hook in the vise with the point protruding from the jaws. This protects the hook from damaging the point during the tying.

2. Attach the thread and wrap back to the bend of the hook. This can be an arbitrary location since the entire hook is curved. Generally, it is before the bend goes directly down when the top of the shank behind the eye is level.

3. Select a spade hackle from a rooster cape or neck. The spade feathers have longer and stiffer fibers and are located on the shoulders of the cape or neck.

4. Tie in a clump of ten to twelve brown Spade hackle fibers. Keep the fibers together as a bundle as they represent the shuck of the mayfly nymph.

5. Wrap the tag ends of the fibers to the top of the hook shank to the the 75 percent position of the shank. This will assist in knowing the abdomen size.

6. Clip the tips of the fibers so they are flush with one another and are about 1/2 hook shank long. Wrap the thread back to the shuck tie-in position. Note that I am keeping the thread flat for a smooth abdomen.

7. Apply the Olive Brown superfine to the thread, thinly applied. Secure the first fibers of the superfine with a wrap around the shuck tie-in position. Then, twist the dubbing around the thread for a tighter rope of dubbing.

8. Dub a tapered abdomen from the base of the shuck to the seventy five percent point on the hook with the olive brown superfine dubbing. Wrap the tying thread back up onto the front of the abdomen overlapping back to the +/- 60 percent point.

9. Select a Cream or Pale Olive hackle, this does not need to be a spade hackle but one with long fibers.

10. Tie in a clump of ten or twelve Cream hackle fibers at the front of the abdomen at the sixty percent point. Dub the thread with the PMD Superfine dubbing. This dubbing rope does not need to be a tight as the abdomen.

11. Wrap the dubbing to form a ball from the sixty percent point forward to the index point (one eye length behind the hook eye). Be sure to leave one eye length of bare shank behind the hook eye at this point as it will become important in the next step.

12. Pull the Cream hackle fibers tightly forward over the thorax forming the wingcase. Bind them down behind the hook eye with two or three tight thread turns.

13. Pull half of the remaining fibers back along the near side of the hook shank and bind them down with a couple wraps.

14. Pull the other half of the remaining fibers back along the far side of the hook shank and bind them down as well.

15. Whip finish and clip the thread. Clip the ends of the legs so they about the same as the wingcase. The finished Barr Emerger, PMD (wet version).

Materials to Order Material, click the link
Hook	TMC 2487 #16-20
Thread	Veevus 10/0 Light Cahill
Body	Olive Brown Superfine
Thorax	PMD Superfine
Tail	Brown Spade Hackle Fibers
Wingcase	Pale Olive or Cream Hackle Fibers
Legs	Pale Olive or Cream Hackle Fibers

John Barr

Barr Emerger

John Barr created this pattern in 1975 while fishing upon the Nelson’s Spring Creek in Montana. Noticing that he was getting little interest in a PMD hatch with his dry patterns, he used a nymph and finally caught a trout. Upon pumping the stomach, John noticed that partially hatched nymphs with the shuck still attached were present on the back of the trout’s tongue.

John developed his emerger pattern based upon the appearance of these partially developed duns and created his Barr Emerger. One aspect of note is the use of the wingcase hackle also being utilized for the legs. This is a technique that Andre Puyans used with his AP Nymphs in the 1980’s.

Wet Version

I don’t know if John was the first to come up with this tying technique for nymphs but it allows for a quick and simple tie. Colorations were adapted for both PMD and BWO mayflies. John uses both a “wet” version tied upon a TMC 2487 larvae type hook and a “dry” version using a TMC 101. If a bead is being applied to the wet version, consider using a longer, heavier hook such as a Daiichi 1120. This hook will offer a wider hook gap as well. The “dry” version tends to have a longer tail section, usually 3/4 of the shank length and not trimmed. The “wet” version will be used when there is no visible hatch.

Dry Version

If one sees surface activity, John will switch to the “dry” version which lies within the surface film. Later versions of John’s pattern include the use of a flashback material or a bead. The flashback tends to be John’s preferred pattern in most situations. One of the attributes of this pattern that became known, is that the trout do not seem to shy away from it after it has been used a number of times. John has had occasions where he caught the same trout using the same fly. Another attribute to this pattern is that it imitates both an emerging mayfly and a mayfly cripple.

This emerger pattern tends to be a favorite among many of the Sierran streams during BWO and PMD hatches. Since the “dry” pattern is difficult to see on it’s own, it is often used as a dropper from a visible dun pattern. The “wet” type can be used as a similar dropper or as the third dropper as in a hopper-copper-dropper set-up.

Barr Emerger PMD , dry

Hook	TMC 101 #14-18
Thread	Veevus 10/0 Light Cahill
Body	Olive Brown Superfine
Thorax	PMD Superfine
Tail	Brown Spade Hackle Fibers
Wingcase	Pale Olive or Cream Hackle Fibers
Legs	Pale Olive or Cream Hackle Fibers

BH Barr Emerger PMD, wet

Hook	Daiichi 1120 #16-18
Thread	Uni-thread Iron Gray 8/0
Head	3/32
Body	Olive Brown Superfne
Thorax	PMD Superfine
Tail	Brown Spade Hackle Fibers
Wingcase	Pale Olive or Cream Hackle Fibers
Legs	Pale Olive or Cream Hackle Fibers

Flashback Barr Emerger PMD, wet

Hook	TMC 2487 #16-20
Thread	Uni-thread Iron Gray 8/0
Body	Olive Brown Superfine
Thorax	PMD Superfine
Flashback	Pearlescent Flat Tinsel
Tail	Brown Spade Hackle Fibers
Wingcase	Pale Olive or Cream Hackle Fibers
Legs	Pale Olive or Cream Hackle Fibers

Barr Emerger BWO, wet

Hook	TMC 2487 #18-22
Thread	Uni-thread Iron Gray 8/0
Body	BWO Superfine
Thorax	Blue Dun Superfine
Tail	Brown Spade Hackle Fibers
Wingcase	Medium Dun Hackle Fibers
Legs	Medium Dun Hackle Fibers

Barr’s BWO Emerger, dry

Hook	TMC 101 #16-22
Thread	Uni-thread Iron Gray 8/0
Body	BWO Superfne
Thorax	Blue Dun Superfine
Tail	Brown Spade Hackle Fibers
Wingcase	Medium Dun Hackle Fibers
Legs	Medium Dun Hackle Fibers