You can tie this simple emerger pattern in a variety of sizes and colors to match the naturals.
The Smoke Jumper has been around for awhile, and it’s quite popular on the Bighorn River in Montana. It was originally tied by Mike Hoiness of Yellowstone Fly Goods in Billings as a midge emerger, but it’s now tied in many sizes and colors to mimic a variety of mayflies and caddisflies, as well.
In this great video from Tightline Productions, author and blogger Matt Grobert walks you through the steps for creating this simple, but effective pattern. He even reveals some of his “peacock herl black magic” tricks when he demonstrates the proper way to wrap the thorax.
Smoke Jumper
Hook: 2X-short emerger hook (here, a Dai-Riki #125), size 16.
Thread: Bright red, 6/0.
Rib: Silver wire, small.
Wing/wingcase: Dark Natural CDC Puff.
Thorax: Peacock herl.
Head: Tying thread.
Tools: Hackle gauge.
Nice tip with the air bubble. Something I haven’t thought of before.
great job on tying smoke jumper. Thanks
Nice and easy fly to tie. This will be a great fly to teach the Project Healing Waters Vets. THANKS for the post ! One question….does it catch fish ? Thanks again.
Hi Mike, tied a couple last night, nice looking fly but I cant get it to float. Put it in a glass of water to test it and laid it carefully on the surface, one took less than a minute to sink, the other about 2. I used Hareline CDC, a little more than you used . Maybe it’s crook Brisbane water? Anyway tied one with a small foam wing-case and just pulled the CDC over it. It floated all night. I wonder what was wrong with the original, it was on a #10 dry fly hook. Cheers Alex.
It is supposed to be a little subsurface