Foam Emerger

Foam Emerger, PMD

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Tying Instructions

1. Press the barb with the vise and secure the hook to the vise. Attach the thread and lay a thread foundation to the bend of the hook.

2. Snip a small segment of Kinky Olive Z-lon and divide the marterial in half. Place the strand on top of the hook shank and secure with a couple of thread wraps at the bend of the hook.

3. Secure the strand of Z-lon to the top of the hook shank to the midpoint of the shank and trim off the remaining tag end. Wrap the thread back to the bend of the hook.

4. Dub the thread with the PMD Superfine…a little goes a long ways. Wrap a tapered body forward.

5. The tapered body should end at the 3/4 position on the shank, leaving room to secure the foam and hackle.

6. Cut a strip of 1mm foam that is 3/4 the hook gap in width. Snip the corners of the strip to creap a foam point to anchor the foam to the shank.

7. Secure the point of the foam just in front of the dubbed body. Make sure that the eye of the hook is clear of any foam material.

8. Bring the foam strip forward over the back and secure the foam in the same area as the foam point was secured.

9. Trim off the tag end of the foam and secure with thread wraps.

10. Anchor the base of a Light Dun saddle hackle with thread wraps behind the eye of the hook.

11. Apply two wraps of the hackle and secure with two thread wraps over the hackle quill. Trim off the tag end of the hackle.

12. Apply a couple of half hitches to secure the thread and trim off the thread.

13. Trim the hackle fibers below the shank so that the fly can lay further down within the surface film.

14. The Finished Foam Emerger, PMD.

 

 

 

 

Materials to Order Material, click the link
Hook	TMC 100 #16-18
Thread	Veevus 10/0 Light Cahill
Body	PMD Superfine
Shuck	Kinky Z-lon Brown
Wingcase	1mm Gray foam
Hackle	Light Dun Hackle

Craig Mathews

Foam Emerger

Craig Mathews, Owner of Blue Ribbon Flies, came up with this pattern sometime in the 1980’s. It incorporated a trailing shuck of Z-lon and a 1mm foam segment that was doubled over at the thorax region. A hackle was placed in front of the foam wingcase to represent legs and emerging wings. The foam provided floatation within the surface film and at an angle that suspended the shuck and body beneath the film. Whe DuPont stopped producing Z-lon in 1985, Blue Ribbon Flies bought over 500 lbs of the material which is a lifetime of material for the fly tying industry as well as Umpqua Feather Merchants. A kinky version of Z-lon was developed later and marketed as “Crinkly” by Blue Ribbon Flies and “Kinky” by Umpqua Feather Merchants. The kinky attributes of the Z-lon give the shuck a much better structure than the straight version.

Conservationist

Craig Mathews has won numerous awards for the environmental work he has done over the 40 years he has been in the West Yellowstone area. He was awarded the “Frank and Jeanne Moore Award” by FFI in 2018 and the “Lee Wulff Award” in 2003. Craig co-founded 1% for the Planet with Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia Inc. 1% FTP is an alliance of businesses donating 1% of their gross sales to researched and approved environmental and conservation causes. To date 1% for the Planet has donated over $250 million to conservation and environmental programs.

Foam Emerger, Baetis

Hook	TMC 100 #16-22
Thread	Veevus 12/0 Dark Olive
Body	BWO Superfine
Shuck	Kinky Z-lon, Olive
Wingcase	1mm Gray foam
Hackle	Light Dun Hackle

Foam Emerger, Western Green Drake

Hook	TMC 100 #12-14
Thread	Veevus 10/0 Brown
Body	Tan Superfine
Ribbing	Brown floss strand
Shuck	Kinky Z-lon Ginger
Wingcase	1mm Gray foam
Hackle	Furnace Hen Neck Hackle