What's your favorite dry or emerger Callibaetis pattern?

[@Dryflyphotography]

One of my favorite hatches is the callibaetis on some of the PNW lakes I fish. I love it when the trout are rising to the hatching flies. I usually fish a parachute Adams size 14 or 16 but always wonder if there are even more effective flies I should tie and fish. What flies do you prefer?

 

[Matt B]

This pattern linked below works, but I’m also partial to parachutes, albeit customized a bit to body color to match naturals, and with some kind of shuck for a tail material.

Blast from the past

I was organizing flies and found this. It was tied and given to me by Preston Singletary (RIP) at Chopaka lake nearly 20 years ago. The callibaetis were coming off pretty decent that trip. Damsels, too. I’ve never been back to that lake, not that I had a bad time. It’s just a haul!

pnwflyfishing.com

 

[bobduck]

look up Quigley's callibaetis cripple. Very effective pattern. On one occasion on a central Oregon lake I was doing very well, catching a lot of fish, and noticed another angler not far away doing as well as I was so being curious I asked what he was using. He said an emerger. I said I was using a cripple. So we decided to check each other's fly. It was the same pattern,. I tie others for fun and experimenting but that has been the most dependable.

 

[Reel fun]

I fish the hatch on Hebgen Lake and have had the best luck with a flashback pt nymph dropper under a callabaetis colored parachute. I've met a few fishermen there who consider that beneath them, like it's cheating. Call me a cheater, I don't care, it works very well.

 

[Dave Westburg]

The washington lake callibaetis duns which I've turned over have a olive or brown-olive bellies so I usually fish a callibaetis dun imitation with a dun tail, olive or olive-brown body, dun hackle and dun parachute post.

The callibaetis spinners I've looked at have a darker body which is well represented by a stripped peacock quill or by grey dubbing body. If you use a stripped peacock quill, coat the body with hard as nails fingernail polish for durability.

From left. Callibaetis parachute. Two hackle callibaetis mayfly. Callibaetis quill spinner.

 

[Tim L]

The Challenged ones (Umpqua, Rio) are widely effective. I also really like the Pablo's Cripple for browns and bigger fish. That profile tends to get slurped in shallow/visible conditions. Keep your readers handy if your eyes are anything like mine.

L to R: Challenged Mayfly Emerger, Pablo's Crippled Callibaetis

 

[Brian in OR.]

I like a biot body spinner with cdc for the wings but good cdc is hard to come by so most tyers have gone with antron. John does a pretty good job with his tie's....

 

[John Svahn]

I like a size 14 or 16 soft hackle pheasant tail with partridge for the hackle, with some floatant. If the fishing is too far away to see that fly, I hang it off the back of a parachute Adams. Usually the Adams is a strike indicator.

 

[SurfnFish]

I fish the hatch on Hebgen Lake and have had the best luck with a flashback pt nymph dropper under a callabaetis colored parachute. I've met a few fishermen there who consider that beneath them, like it's cheating. Call me a cheater, I don't care, it works very well.

sure is fun swinging egg sucking leeches to those Bowns when they enter the Madison in fall...

 

[RCF]

I prefer parachute ties. Low profile seems to work better for me. At size 16 mine are now store bought. Between eyes and dexterity diminishing, at my age just easier and less frustrating...

Plus I can see the post better when fishing...

Just an old fart thinking out loud...

 

[Aufwuchs]

Gulper Special. Similar to a parachute Adams but slightly different color. I use it as something else to try when the fish are picky.

 

[@Dryflyphotography]

I fish the hatch on Hebgen Lake and have had the best luck with a flashback pt nymph dropper under a callabaetis colored parachute. I've met a few fishermen there who consider that beneath them, like it's cheating. Call me a cheater, I don't care, it works very well.

How long is your dropper below your dry?

 

[Stonedfish]

Maybe a bit odd for a dry on lakes, but I’ve done will with an irresistible Adams. Floats like a cork and have even caught fish, especially native coastal cutts stripping it in so it is just slightly submerged.
An old emerger pattern that still works well today is the timberline emerger.
SF

 

[Wayne Kohan]

Deer hair emerger works great for the hatch in my experience.

 

[Buzzy]

The Challenged ones (Umpqua, Rio) are widely effective. I also really like the Pablo's Cripple for browns and bigger fish. That profile tends to get slurped in shallow/visible conditions. Keep your readers handy if your eyes are anything like mine.

L to R: Challenged Mayfly Emerger, Pablo's Crippled Callibaetis
View attachment 110733View attachment 110732

I really like variations of Quigley's Cripple for a mayfly hatch that we sometimes time just right on our late May trips to the Kamloops area. I've never heard of "Pablo's" - I like the profile but am not sure what I'm seeing (there's no doubt countless variations, eh?) with the thorax and hackle.

 

[FishingGirl]

I found this fly while on a trip to Scotland. It can be tied as a true dry or an emerger depending on the tail structure. Fish it dead drift or slight twitches. Worked well for me once back home. Yellow Owl Emerger, size 14-18.

 

[Matt B]

The Challenged ones (Umpqua, Rio) are widely effective. I also really like the Pablo's Cripple for browns and bigger fish. That profile tends to get slurped in shallow/visible conditions. Keep your readers handy if your eyes are anything like mine.

L to R: Challenged Mayfly Emerger, Pablo's Crippled Callibaetis
View attachment 110733View attachment 110732

I like that profile, too—sticks above and below water. The fish often agree.
Here are a couple of my ties. Basically, klinkhammers with a deer hair or elk hair post. I like having the thorax a darker color, too.

 

[Matt B]

I like a biot body spinner with cdc for the wings but good cdc is hard to come by so most tyers have gone with antron. John does a pretty good job with his tie's....

View attachment 110719

Are the callibaetis spinners around you that paler tan color? I have not caught this hatch too often, but the callibaetis spinners I have seen in Washington have all had a dark gray body.

 

[Cabezon]

Are the callibaetis spinners around you that paler tan color? I have not caught this hatch too often, but the callibaetis spinners I have seen in Washington have all had a dark gray body.

I am a big fan of biot-bodied parachute flies for Callibaetis duns. While this style is VERY delicate, these lake trout can get very picky and I like the slim, segmented profile that the biot body provides. The parachute body rides right at the surface. I have cast to cruising fish at Chopaka and at Leech Lake and had a rejection or three before the fish finally takes the fly on the next cast in its path. I also have some Quigley cripples and spent spinners because sometimes that is what they want.
At a place like Dry Falls or Rocky Ford, the Callibaetis are very light. But as you rise higher in the mountains, the mayflies, especially the wings, are more speckled. I have two colors with me for these different locations.
Steve

 

[Matt B]

I am a big fan of biot-bodied parachute flies for Callibaetis duns. While this style is VERY delicate, these lake trout can get very picky and I like the slim, segmented profile that the biot body provides. The parachute body rides right at the surface. I have cast to cruising fish at Chopaka and at Leech Lake and had a rejection or three before the fish finally takes the fly on the next cast in its path. I also have some Quigley cripples and spent spinners because sometimes that is what they want.
At a place like Dry Falls or Rocky Ford, the Callibaetis are very light. But as you rise higher in the mountains, the mayflies, especially the wings, are more speckled. I have two colors with me for these different locations.
Steve

Interesting. The duns I see are lighter-bodied and have speckled wings, but I've never seen speckled wings on a spinner, and the spinners are always dark-bodied.