Notes:
Guy Jeans, owner of Kern River Fly Shop, came up with his variation on the Hare's Ear Nymph with his Kern Emerger
in 2004. It has many of the same components as a Hare's Ear Nymph but utilizes different materials which tend to be more flashy and give additional contrast. Guy uses a Peacock Herl body with a black dyed Deer Hair tail. The thorax is a multi-color blend of dubbing that provides both translucency and sparkle. The Poul Jorgensen SLF Blend was popular as the thorax material when this pattern first came out but is now out of production. Other nymph blends work particularly well if a little Lightnin' Dub is added to the blend. Guy will pick out the fibers to suggest legs or appendages. The foam wingcase helps lift the upper part of the fly in an ascending motion and also gives the fly a color contrast that evokes attraction for a strike. Wapsi makes a Razor foam which is 1mm thick in a number of colors. This is the perfect thickness for the Kern Emerger. The foam is difficult to find but there are 1mm white foam available that you can mark with a pen to get the color you prefer. The body is formed with an underbody of Quick Descent dubbing and not only provides form but also weight to the pattern. Another variation on the Hare's Ear Nymph is the Lindgren Peacock which was tied by Ira Lindgren in the 1950's for the Kings River. Ira used black hackle barbs for the tail and a peacock herl body with a gold wire ribbing. Black hackle fibers would be used for a soft collar. The brightly colored wingcase is a "hot spot" that can also be seen on John Atherton's Medium Nymph tied in 1950. Atherton used an English Kingfisher blue feather for the wingcase. Atherton’s justification for the bright blue is that mayflies often have brilliant accents of color (pink, yellow, blue, violet, etc.) somewhere on the body. The blue wing case provides that splash of color and makes the fly seem alive to a trout. Guy will utilize a number of colors as well on his Kern Emerger. |