I'd like to give you some feedback on Peter Leuver's "Head & Shoulders
Emerger" featured in FL#31. The family and I recently spent a week at wonderful Uncle Billy's
Retreat in the New England Tablelands over the Easter period (yes, I
know, poor me). This year the conditions where ideal with many fish
being taken on woolly-buggers during the day. Most evenings saw
excellent hatches of Chironomids which the trout exploited ravenously.
I consider myself very inexperienced at emerger/dry fly fishing,
although to me this is the ultimate in trout fishing. We have often
fished these evening rises during previous trips with little success.
A bad case of "Angler's Curse" was often muttered as we trudged back to
the cabin for an analysis of "where we went wrong" (over one or two
glasses of 'red', of course).
However, this year, armed with the "Head & Shoulders Emerger", I
enjoyed a sight which I had only dreamed of previously. The weeks
leading up to the trip I tied a few of these flies, using CDC for the
first time. This stuff is great – no more messy floatant. The very
first evening saw the trout working methodically as a hatch started.
The little emerger sat wonderfully on top of the water, with the little
CDC wing giving me a perfect view of the emerger's location - luckily
in the path of a working fish. To my joy (and astonishment), a
swirl engulfed the fly and I was into a beautiful rainbow trout.
Thanks Flylife for presenting this fly. It has given me a wonderful
experience I will never forget. I can thoroughly recommend the "Head &
Shoulders Emerger" for those who, like me, have often found trout
feeding on Chironomids more than challenging.
Peter, please add the New England Tablelands to your list of locations where this fly has been successful.
Nick Young, Brisbane, QLD.
