This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Charles Brooks Emerger Ida May.
Some days I have difficulties deciding which fly to feature for a TBT fly. I walk over to my fly fishing and fly tying library and selected a book or two.
I found today’s fly in Brooks’ book entitled The Henry’s Fork (1986) in Appendix C, page 201. It was listed below the Ida May, a fly it turns out I already featured on my website back in March 2016 and shown below. Brooks calls his fly the Ida May Nymph in his book and is shown below.
What intrigued me about the fly was Brooks discussing how he used it to imitate a Green Drake. It took me right back to Fly Fishing the Henry’s Fork Brown and Green Drake Hatches last summer.
Brooks writes “This fly was developed after I found that I got many strikes when the nymph came to the surface straight down stream due to current action, at the end of the drift. That still happens with the regular Ida May, but when it does, I switch over to this emerger because I get more hits on a drift, can almost always see the swirl of the take, and thus better hook the fish.”
The only difference between the two flies is the body. The Emerger Ida May called for a body of Furry Foam, beige, split or separated, wrapped forward around the hook to create a tapered body and colored with olive and black Pantone markers. The Ida May is tied with a dubbed black body. Both utilize a rib of peacock herl.
Furry Foam? I pulled out a box of foam to see if I had any and guess what I found?
I wonder why I had Furry Foam?
Well, it was my lucky day, so I sat down and tied the fly. You can find the fly pattern sheet HERE.
Enjoy…go fish, stay safe!
