PMD Emerger

[letumgo]

PMD Emerger
Hook - Tiemco Model 102Y/Size 19
Thread - 8/0 UNI-Thread (Primrose)
Hackle - Bleached Starling (Tan)
Trailing Shuck - Antron Fibers (Amber)
Body - Seal Dubbing Blend (Olive/Orange/Yellow)

This is the pattern I came up with for the PMD swap. The fly is intended to be fished in the surface film, as an emerger. The tailing material is intended to imitate the exoskeleton of the nymphal shuck, as the insect is in the process of emerging.



My assistant, carefully inspecting the swap flies.


With a size 19 hook, the flies are pretty small. Kitty had to get up close to look at the details...

[Mickalo]

Hey Ray does that look familiar! We have a 6 yr old black & white female cat who luvs to climb up on my tying bench and knock things over from time to time or dig in my dubbing. Some great pics

Also your PMD looks great too, I don't tie that small myself, looks like a great fly.

MIke

[Smuggler]

Those are just stunning, Ray. Fantastic dubbing blend.

[Mataura mayfly]

Nice, they have an almost Tup-ish look to them, but more vibrant, they should fish well in the method you describe.
Hope Kitty isn't too boisterous around flies and hooks- or you may have to stick to barbless hooks for kitty catch & release!

[DUBBN]

Pretty fancy patterns Ray. I think my local trout will like them!

[hankaye]

Ray, Howdy;

Likein' the looks of them.....
just had to go 1 size smaller than mine, huh... ,

hank

[letumgo]

Thanks guys. The kitty is my parents cat. He is a good cat. A very curious little fella, and he was especially interested in my starling skin. I had accidentally tore a section out of it, when I was pulling feathers off the skin. He came up and wanted to smell and bat the feathers around and look at the flies.

I have William to thank for the seal dubbing. He sent me a small pack with three different blends. These flies were tyed with one of the blends.

Hank - I used the small hook to minimize the weight of the fly and give better proportions with the tailing shuck. These hooks were a favorite of Sylvester Nemes.

SPECIAL NOTES ON WORKING WITH SEAL DUBBING:
Seal can be challenging dubbing to work with, especially on a hook this small. Waxing the thread helped, along with lots of finger pressure when twisting the dubbing onto the tying thread. I found that I got the best results by taking a small pinch of dubbing from the bag. As I grasped the dubbing, I would pinch the end of the fibers and pull out only a small amount of fibers. The fibers were then roughly aligned. I then pinched the ends onto the tying thread, so that the fibers were running parallel to the thread. Twisting was started at the section closest to the hook shank (very tightly pinched to form a narrow body). The dubbing was allowed to be a little thicker towards the bobbin. The body taper was then adjusted as the dubbing was wound onto the hook, by adjusting the pitch of the wraps.

[CreationBear]

Nice fly and great "Seal PSA"--no doubt William has set you up with the premo wet-behind-the-ears stuff, but coarse, adult seal makes me grind my teeth a bit.

[Kelly L.]

Love the fly, and the tutorial. That cat really made the photos that much more cool. I don't dare let the cats around here on my tying table. Two of them are known thieves. One of them likes bucktails, and the other goes for the feathers. They both know that I am firmly against any kitties on the tying table. One of them likes to sit on a chair nearby, and supervise. She turns her head like the RCA dog, when I do an especially cool feat with the fly tying. It is her seal of approval, or maybe she is wondering what in the world I am doing. She also thinks I am very stingy with my toys.

[letumgo]

Jon - What is "Seal PSA"? Please explain.