"If my fly sinks" should have been a tipoff that I was talking bout whipping dries about. 😉. I have had a March Brown dry get hit by a wave and sunk. Keep the line tight and sweep that baby through the fast water. It might not be textbook but it gets me a chance at a fish without having to pick up and recast again.
Sulfur Dunn
- Thread starter salmo
- Start date
"If my fly sinks" should have been a tipoff that I was talking bout whipping dries about. 😉. I have had a March Brown dry get hit by a wave and sunk. Keep the line tight and sweep that baby through the fast water. It might not be textbook but it gets me a chance at a fish without having to pick up and recast again.
- Joined
- May 3, 2011
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- 6,376
My usual strategy for fishing MB’s is to just fish a Sulphur anyway, even if you don’t see any. I’ll give that a try this year though.
Tigereye
Well-known member
Try this one in yellow.
PS: This is a recent video of his. This guy is an amazing tyer.
salmo
Well-known member
I love this guy. He’s a Serbian who is quite serious.
jeffroey
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2019
- Messages
- 356
Give an old-school method a try.
Obviously not a sulphur Dunn but try tying one with a thread a little darker than the dubbing your using.
Don't trim your tag and after you dub the body, wrap it forward in open spirals.
Might help you achieve that very subtle segmented look ...
Obviously not a sulphur Dunn but try tying one with a thread a little darker than the dubbing your using.
Don't trim your tag and after you dub the body, wrap it forward in open spirals.
Might help you achieve that very subtle segmented look ...
mt_flyfisher
Well-known member
I haven’t fished Sulphurs here for many years since I spent so many summers in Montana.
However, unless the trout’s preferences for fly colors have changed, I always did best on orange bodied flies.
So why do you think orange worked so well? I dunno. Maybe for the same reason that purple bodied flies sometimes also work well when there’s no purple insects hatching. 🙋♂️
This isn’t the same orange dubbing that I used to use (I had used muskrat dyed orange), but I like this dubbing color. And pardon those big tails. I hope they won’t look quite so big when they get wet and some of the fibers mat together.
However, unless the trout’s preferences for fly colors have changed, I always did best on orange bodied flies.
So why do you think orange worked so well? I dunno. Maybe for the same reason that purple bodied flies sometimes also work well when there’s no purple insects hatching. 🙋♂️
This isn’t the same orange dubbing that I used to use (I had used muskrat dyed orange), but I like this dubbing color. And pardon those big tails. I hope they won’t look quite so big when they get wet and some of the fibers mat together.
6xAdams(Jones)
Well-known member
If I never dragged a drowned dry fly, I'd have never caught some of my biggest trout.
salmo
Well-known member
Funny I will add some reddish brownish dubbing to my sulfur for an orange tint.
pcray1231
Well-known member
As far as dragging sulphers, I very intentionally do it. I cast at an upstream angle, above and beyond target fish, skitter it to just above his window, then let it dead drift over him. Works well, most of the time. I just think the movement gets there attention. And natural sulpher duns float on the water a long time, which is one reason its a great fishing hatch. I notice time and time again the floppity naturals get eaten, while the naturals that sit still do not.
Bamboozle
Well-known member
My go-to Sulphur dubbing for decades was a piece of road kill raccoon that I bleached. It resulted in a creamy tan dubbing that matched the Sulphurs on the Letort (where I most often fished the hatch) to a "T."
Those imitations featured a medium grey wing and light dun hackle.
Many locals went with a more orange body even though it is something I never encountered in a real Sulphur anywhere I fish in PA.
Later when I got lazy and away from natural furs I switched to plain light yellow poly for the body and decided that yellow would be a more appropriate color for the legs & tail. I use yellow dyed Whiting 100 packs for hackle and yellow Fibbetes for the tails.
The only time I vary from this color combo is my "Night/White/White" version tied with a white wing, white body, tails & hackle. I use this fly when the fish are still feeding and the light level is extremely low, meaning around 20:45 to 21:00 hrs because it is much easier to see.
Bottom line, the yellow/yellow or white/white combo works just fine, no better or worse than the old racoon versions and I suspect if I was so inclined, no better or worse than something in orange.
FWIW - One of my favorite soft hackle flies is a Purple & Snipe. Maybe I need to whip up a purple Sulphur... 😉
I'll add one other thing...
At the time of year, time of day and places where I fish Sulphurs, there are ALWAYS Little Black Caddis fluttering an inch or two above the water. They are hard to see unless you lower your head to almost level with the water but they are there.
It is REALLY easy to be so focused on the early stages of the impending Sulphur hatch and throw nothing but duns or emergers to rising fish. However if the fish are refusing your Sulphur imitations...
Try a Little Black Caddis imitation...
YOU may just discover (like I have 100's of times) they AREN'T taking Sulphurs. Before this suggestion starts another pattern choice thread, all I use for a Little Black Caddis is an all black Elk Wing Caddis in size 18. I've also used a beetle in a pinch. 🙂
Have fun!!
Tigereye
Well-known member
I may have to remember this. I've had more than a few days when the sufurs had me stumped. I recall seeing the Caddis but never really tried one.
Good tip. Thanks
mooney4
Member
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- Jan 24, 2010
- Messages
- 265
Sulphurs/Sulfurs, one of my favorites to tie and fish!!! Your gonna get lots of suggestions. Ive caught trout on wets and dries and I think the best thing I can say is that size, shape and maybe color is most important. I'd say have a few in slightly different colors from yellow all the way through to an orange shade and keep them thin. My latest preferred pattern is a cripple and its proving to be a good pattern!! Tight lines!!
salmo
Well-known member
Thanks
