Mercer’s Missing Link
Mercer’s Missing Link, Little Yellow May
Tying Instructions
Materials
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Hook | TMC 102Y #11-15 |
Thread | Uni-thread Light Cahill 8/0 |
Body | Uni-thread Light Cahill 8/0 |
Thorax | Hot Yellow Ice Dubbing |
Ribbing | Pearl Krystalflash |
Wing | Yearling Elk Hair, Bleached |
Downwing | Ginger Kinky Z-lon |
Hackle | Dun Saddle Hackle |
Mercer’s Missing Link
This pattern was designed by Mike Mercer, in 2010, originally for caddis hatches. However, the design was also very effective on other hatches, such as Mayflies and Stoneflies, by modifying both coloration and size of hook. Mike called the pattern, Missing Link, since it seemed to solve the mysteries of how a fly pattern can be quite effective on one day and totally ineffective on another.
Despite designing the pattern specifically for the caddis hatch, the principals of the pattern can be applied to any insect that is molting into a dun at the surface of a stream or lake and encounters difficulty. From the fish perspective, this difficulty in the transformation could look like a real mess rather than the silhouette of a complete nymph or dun and this “mess” might be exactly what the fish are looking for on a given day. The “mess” occurs when the transformation fails and the insect dies from drowning. It’s a meaty meal for the fish with very little effort needed to take it.
Nymphal Transition
The body of the pattern is meant to be thin and weak from the transition of a nymph to a dun. To achieve this look, Mike decided to use a simple thread body as seen on many mayfly patterns. He would add a strand of flashabou to represent the trapped gases that the nymphal case would have and protect both the thread and the flash with a coating of Softex or Loon’s UV Clear Fly Finish, Flow. The pattern needed a downwing profile that was both frail and translucent. A sparse number of Z-lon or Antron fibers could achieve this look if the strands were separated by a small clump of dubbing on the hook shank.
Finally, the pattern need floatation that would achieve a low riding profile. Ralph Cutter had a solution to this with his E/C caddis pattern where the Elk Hair was a wingpost with a parachute hackle at it’s base and Mike incorporated that feature into the Missing Link pattern. The hook that Mike prefers is the TMC 102Y, which is a wide gap dry fly hook similar to the TMC 100. The wider gap is an advantage when tying parachute patterns and allows the thread body to extend down the bend of the hook. The hook wire is 1X fine which is subject to bending with large fish, so some turn to a TMC 100sp-bl for a heavier wire.
Variations
Mercer’s Missing Link, Baetis
Hook | TMC 102Y #17-19 |
Thread | Uni-thread Olive 8/0 |
Body | Uni-thread Olive 8/0 |
Thorax | Black Peacock Ice Dubbing |
Ribbing | Pearl Krystalflash |
Wing | Natural Yearling Elk Hair |
Downwing | Dark Dun Z-lon |
Hackle | Dun Saddle Hackle |
Mercer’s Missing Link, PMD
Hook | TMC 102Y #15-17 |
Thread | Uni-thread Brown 8/0 |
Body | Uni-thread Brown 8/0 |
Thorax | Peacock Ice Dubbing |
Ribbing | Pearl Krystalflash |
Wing | Yearling Elk Hair, Bleached |
Downwing | Medium Dun Z-lon |
Hackle | Dun Saddle Hackle |
Mercer’s Missing Link, Green Drake
Hook | TMC 102Y #11-15 |
Thread | Uni-thread Olive Dun 8/0 |
Body | Uni-thread Olive Dun 8/0 |
Thorax | Peacock Ice Dubbing |
Ribbing | Pearl Krystalflash |
Wing | Yearling Elk Hair, Bleached |
Downwing | Cream Z-lon |
Hackle | Dun Saddle Hackle |