Kimball’s Emerger

Pattern Description:

The Kimballs Emerger was introduced to me by Drew Reid of Roaring fork Anglers in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. The original pattern omits the hackle and was tied on the front half of a standard dry fly hook. It is a very low floating midge emerger pattern and can be really hard to see because of its low profile. I altered the fly a bit by adding a few turns of hackle over the body to add floatation and visibility and changed the hook to the TMC 2488. I love this pattern for difficult midge hatches and especially in the late evening. The polypro loop wing and hackle add a tremendous amount of visibility and really float the fly well for such a small pattern.

Materials Needed:
Hook: TMC 2488 #20-28
Thread: UNI 8/0 or 14/0 Black
Tail/Shuck: Barred Teal Flank
Wing: Gray or white Polypropylene yarn
Hackle: Grizzly Neck
Body: Black Superfine Dubbing or fine Peacock Herl

Step 1
Start the thread and build a thread base from the eye to the bend. Tie in a clump of barred teal flank at the bend that is one shank length long.


Step 2
Trim the butt ends of the teal flank and then tie in a sparse clump of polypro yarn at the midpoint on the shank. Wrap over the poly to the bend.


Step 3
Tie in a grizzly hackle by its butt end at the bend with the inside of the feather facing the hook shank.


Step 4
Dub a thin level body of black Superfine up to the index point.


Step 5
Wrap the hackle forward with three to five turns and tie off at the eye. Clip the excess hackle tip.


Step 6
Pull the poly yarn forward over the eye then push it back a bit to form a loose hump. Tie off the poly yarn at the index point.


Step 7
Lift the butt ends of the poly and make a few wraps of thread between the butts and the hook eye to prop the front ends up away from the hook eye. Trim the butts into a short brush.


Step 8
Whip finish behind the butt ends on top of where the yarn was tied down. Clip the hackle flat across the bottom of the fly.