Mercer’s Missing Link

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
Sulphur Dun Emerger
Sulphur Dun Emerger
Mike Mercer

Mike Mercer

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

Missing Link, Baetis
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
Missing Link, PMD
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
Missing Link, Green Drake
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