NC Yellow Sally
Fly of the Month 06.13
North Carolina Yellow Sally
This “fly of the month” represents the latest in the Alen Baker/Tom Adams series.
We anglers are more likely to use a stonefly nymph rather than a stonefly dry fly. But do we know why? Unlike out West, our largest eastern stonefly, the eastern salmonfly as well as the giant golden stonefly hatch and deposit eggs nocturnally. So we may occasionally see these adult stoneflies clinging onto streamside branches but it is rare to see one flying over the stream. Since these stoneflies do exist in the stream bottom in great numbers as nymphs, large black, brown and golden colored stonefly nymph patterns are highly effective.
However, there are daytime hatches of small stoneflies in our Southern Appalachian streams that are very often ignored. Throughout the summer our North Carolina mountain streams typically have sporadic hatches of little yellow stoneflies or Alloperla caudata in the afternoon and medium brown stoneflies or Isoperla bilineata and Isoperla signata in the evening. Very often the medium brown stoneflies are very light brown or yellowish in color. By late summer the little green stoneflies or Alloperla inbecillia hatch replaces the medium brown’s and tends to mix in with the little
yellow’s. In the West, the pale-yellow summer stonefly which is commonly called the Yellow Sally is comprised of two very common types of stonefly specieIsoperla mormona which is commonly called the Mormon Girl and Isoperla patricia which is much more evident to the angler. Both species are nearly identical and often found emerging together. These two species are actually medium brown stoneflies. The very light brown yellowish color appears to be more yellow than not, thus the stonefly is well known and recognized as the Yellow Sally.
North Carolina Yellow Sally
Many, many decades ago, fly fishers in the Smokies readily adopted and modified the Yellow Sally fly pattern which originated out West. Since both the little yellow stonefly and the medium brown stonefly appear one after the other and even together in our streams, a darker dun hackle is utilized to match the hatch of both. All stoneflies hatch by crawling out of the stream along the banks, rocks and vegetation as nymphs. As the air dries the nymphal shuck the adult stonefly clinging to a rock, branch or even on the ground frees it’s wings, emerges and flies away to find a mate. To the angler this is an “invisible hatch”. The actual “visible hatch” the angler sees is during the mating and egg laying when the stoneflies congregate over the stream. For the little yellow stoneflies and medium brown stoneflies, the actual hatch or “invisible hatch” occurred during the morning or a even the prior morning. The “visible hatch” is the mating and egg laying in the afternoon and evening following the actual hatch.
After mating, the female stoneflies tend to congregate to lay eggs over the stream. They will not only be yellow in color, but will have a red-orange egg sac. The N. C. Hot Butt Yellow Sally fly pattern is designed to imitate the female little yellow stonefly and the medium brown stonefly. The egg laying will typically continue into the late-evening until the females are spent. The male stoneflies return to the stream as well. Some follow their female mate, some come later. By dusk, most of the stoneflies of the “visible hatch” are spent. To fish the “visible hatch” take note as to whether the majority of the stoneflies have an egg sac. For the most part the N. C. Yellow Sally will be effective regardless. However, if there are a good number of stoneflies present with egg sacs, the hot butt version may well produce more catches. Until spent, stoneflies will hover very close to the surface. This will require that your N. C. Yellow Sally dry fly floats high on the surface, so keep applying floatant as needed. If the “visible hatch” is running late and you fish until dusk, you will be amazed at the overall number of these stoneflies available for the trout.
- Alen Baker
Fly of the Month 06.13 North Carolina Yellow Sally
Hook: Dry, Tiemco 100, Size: 14, 16, 18, 20
Thread: Uni 8/0 Yellow
Abdomen: Yellow Rabbit Dubbing
Wing: Elk Hair, light or bleached
Thorax : Yellow Rabbit Dubbing
Hackle : Dark Dun Rooster
Directions:
1) Debarb the hook and mount in vise. Begin thread wraps two eye lengths from eye and wrap in touching wraps to above the hook barb and let the bobbin hang.
2) Begin small dubbing noodle, about two inches long. Make tight, touching without much overlap to build a tapered abdomen. Repeat the dubbing as necessary, ending at slightly past the half mark to the eye. Let the bobbin hang.
3) Select a small amount of elk and cut away from the hide. Cut as close to the skin as possible. Strip away any loose, fuzzy material and any short elk hairs. Once the elk is very clean, insert into hair stacker tips first. Tap several times to align the tips and remove from the stacker by the tips. Check the length making it about the same as the hook shank. Place the elk on top of the hook shank immediately in front of the dubbing and tie in. First use a soft wrap to hold the elk in place, then make firmer wraps ( about three or four) toward the eye, trapping some of the elk on top of the hook shank. Pinching the tip section with your left hand, close to the tie in point, to maintain the position on top, begin making firm wraps of thread on the elk. After two or so wraps, begin lifting the elk with your left hand and while holding pressure to keep the elk on top, take the thread through small clumps of elk to help hold it in place. Two or three ties like this will get you near the eye. Do not crowd the eye. When you trim the elk, it is a thick item and after cutting can take up more room than you thought. So, after trimming the waste elk advance the thread in touching turns back to where the elk was tied in. Make any adjustments to the elk at this time to make sure it is resting on top of the shank. Trim the waste and make several turns of thread to even out the hair into a taper toward the eye. Do not overwrap at this point. Let the bobbin hang.
4) Select a dun rooster feather, with barbs sized to slightly larger than the hook gap. Strip a small amount of barbs from the end of the feather for tying in. Tie in immediately in front of the elk with the convex part of the rooster toward the eye. Trim any waste stem and make a few wraps to cover the tie in, leaving the thread at the elk. Let the bobbin hang.
5) Dub more yellow rabbit about an inch or so of thread keeping the dubbing extremely thin and light. Wrap the dub to make a slight covering over the thread to two eye lengths from the eye. Let the bobbin hang.
6) Advance the dun rooster hackle in open turns, about three to the thread and bind in. Wiggle the thread through the barbs to prevent excessive trapping of barbs and after trapping the stem make two or three thread wraps before cutting away the waste. Form a small thread head and whip finish.
Other similar Southern Appalachian fly patterns include the Little Yellow Stone and the Little Green Stone.
- Tom Adams, Alen Baker
North Carolina Yellow Sally
This “fly of the month” represents the latest in the Alen Baker/Tom Adams series.
We anglers are more likely to use a stonefly nymph rather than a stonefly dry fly. But do we know why? Unlike out West, our largest eastern stonefly, the eastern salmonfly as well as the giant golden stonefly hatch and deposit eggs nocturnally. So we may occasionally see these adult stoneflies clinging onto streamside branches but it is rare to see one flying over the stream. Since these stoneflies do exist in the stream bottom in great numbers as nymphs, large black, brown and golden colored stonefly nymph patterns are highly effective.
However, there are daytime hatches of small stoneflies in our Southern Appalachian streams that are very often ignored. Throughout the summer our North Carolina mountain streams typically have sporadic hatches of little yellow stoneflies or Alloperla caudata in the afternoon and medium brown stoneflies or Isoperla bilineata and Isoperla signata in the evening. Very often the medium brown stoneflies are very light brown or yellowish in color. By late summer the little green stoneflies or Alloperla inbecillia hatch replaces the medium brown’s and tends to mix in with the little
yellow’s. In the West, the pale-yellow summer stonefly which is commonly called the Yellow Sally is comprised of two very common types of stonefly specieIsoperla mormona which is commonly called the Mormon Girl and Isoperla patricia which is much more evident to the angler. Both species are nearly identical and often found emerging together. These two species are actually medium brown stoneflies. The very light brown yellowish color appears to be more yellow than not, thus the stonefly is well known and recognized as the Yellow Sally.
North Carolina Yellow Sally
Many, many decades ago, fly fishers in the Smokies readily adopted and modified the Yellow Sally fly pattern which originated out West. Since both the little yellow stonefly and the medium brown stonefly appear one after the other and even together in our streams, a darker dun hackle is utilized to match the hatch of both. All stoneflies hatch by crawling out of the stream along the banks, rocks and vegetation as nymphs. As the air dries the nymphal shuck the adult stonefly clinging to a rock, branch or even on the ground frees it’s wings, emerges and flies away to find a mate. To the angler this is an “invisible hatch”. The actual “visible hatch” the angler sees is during the mating and egg laying when the stoneflies congregate over the stream. For the little yellow stoneflies and medium brown stoneflies, the actual hatch or “invisible hatch” occurred during the morning or a even the prior morning. The “visible hatch” is the mating and egg laying in the afternoon and evening following the actual hatch.
After mating, the female stoneflies tend to congregate to lay eggs over the stream. They will not only be yellow in color, but will have a red-orange egg sac. The N. C. Hot Butt Yellow Sally fly pattern is designed to imitate the female little yellow stonefly and the medium brown stonefly. The egg laying will typically continue into the late-evening until the females are spent. The male stoneflies return to the stream as well. Some follow their female mate, some come later. By dusk, most of the stoneflies of the “visible hatch” are spent. To fish the “visible hatch” take note as to whether the majority of the stoneflies have an egg sac. For the most part the N. C. Yellow Sally will be effective regardless. However, if there are a good number of stoneflies present with egg sacs, the hot butt version may well produce more catches. Until spent, stoneflies will hover very close to the surface. This will require that your N. C. Yellow Sally dry fly floats high on the surface, so keep applying floatant as needed. If the “visible hatch” is running late and you fish until dusk, you will be amazed at the overall number of these stoneflies available for the trout.
- Alen Baker
Fly of the Month 06.13 North Carolina Yellow Sally
Hook: Dry, Tiemco 100, Size: 14, 16, 18, 20
Thread: Uni 8/0 Yellow
Abdomen: Yellow Rabbit Dubbing
Wing: Elk Hair, light or bleached
Thorax : Yellow Rabbit Dubbing
Hackle : Dark Dun Rooster
Directions:
1) Debarb the hook and mount in vise. Begin thread wraps two eye lengths from eye and wrap in touching wraps to above the hook barb and let the bobbin hang.
2) Begin small dubbing noodle, about two inches long. Make tight, touching without much overlap to build a tapered abdomen. Repeat the dubbing as necessary, ending at slightly past the half mark to the eye. Let the bobbin hang.
3) Select a small amount of elk and cut away from the hide. Cut as close to the skin as possible. Strip away any loose, fuzzy material and any short elk hairs. Once the elk is very clean, insert into hair stacker tips first. Tap several times to align the tips and remove from the stacker by the tips. Check the length making it about the same as the hook shank. Place the elk on top of the hook shank immediately in front of the dubbing and tie in. First use a soft wrap to hold the elk in place, then make firmer wraps ( about three or four) toward the eye, trapping some of the elk on top of the hook shank. Pinching the tip section with your left hand, close to the tie in point, to maintain the position on top, begin making firm wraps of thread on the elk. After two or so wraps, begin lifting the elk with your left hand and while holding pressure to keep the elk on top, take the thread through small clumps of elk to help hold it in place. Two or three ties like this will get you near the eye. Do not crowd the eye. When you trim the elk, it is a thick item and after cutting can take up more room than you thought. So, after trimming the waste elk advance the thread in touching turns back to where the elk was tied in. Make any adjustments to the elk at this time to make sure it is resting on top of the shank. Trim the waste and make several turns of thread to even out the hair into a taper toward the eye. Do not overwrap at this point. Let the bobbin hang.
4) Select a dun rooster feather, with barbs sized to slightly larger than the hook gap. Strip a small amount of barbs from the end of the feather for tying in. Tie in immediately in front of the elk with the convex part of the rooster toward the eye. Trim any waste stem and make a few wraps to cover the tie in, leaving the thread at the elk. Let the bobbin hang.
5) Dub more yellow rabbit about an inch or so of thread keeping the dubbing extremely thin and light. Wrap the dub to make a slight covering over the thread to two eye lengths from the eye. Let the bobbin hang.
6) Advance the dun rooster hackle in open turns, about three to the thread and bind in. Wiggle the thread through the barbs to prevent excessive trapping of barbs and after trapping the stem make two or three thread wraps before cutting away the waste. Form a small thread head and whip finish.
Other similar Southern Appalachian fly patterns include the Little Yellow Stone and the Little Green Stone.
- Tom Adams, Alen Baker