Sunkist
Fly of the Month 03.24a Sunkist
Our remote trout headwaters in out Southern Appalachians may be labeled as roughwater. Sure, between riffles and runs there are typically the deeper, glassy surface pools. Yet even the pools have one or more heads where water cascades into the pool as a rough whitewater run and one or more short drops at the tail that can readily sink a dry fly if not quickly retrieved at the last moment. Fly fishing anglers resolved this problem by utilizing animal hair for the wing to build a more durable dry fly. The most well-known roughwater dry flies are the Wulff series.
We often hear a fellow fly fishing angler say that for some reason, yellow is the key color for a dry fly on a Southern Appalachian trout stream. True, but our native brook trout are opportunistic to the degree that they will strike any one of many bright colors found floating like an inset in their feeding lane. Having experimented with orange, the local Sunkist [Wulff] fly pattern is an excellent roughwater Brookie attractor!
In the Southern Appalachians the use of orange to attract fish has little history. The Orange Palmer and the Partridge and Orange Softhackle fly patterns are pretty much the full story. You will not find the Sunkist in fly shops as it is very much a local fly pattern, not as well-known as the Royal Wulff, but none the less, it is highly effective as a go-to roughwater fly pattern. You may well find the fly available and sold locally in tackle shops, service stations and general stores throughout the North Carolina mountains where a local tier is making part of his living tying and selling his flies.
A size 12 and size 14 Sunkist is all you will encounter in local stores. If you use want a size 16 for your favorite wild stream which allows hooking the smaller Brookies, then you will need to tie your own size 16 Sunkist. The Sunkist is especially effective on headwater wild streams in North Carolina.
Over many generations of fly tyers and anglers, the use of hair-wing flies has blossomed. Some fly patterns are creative modifications of the Wulff series. Other hair-wing fly patterns have their own unique origin of how the fly pattern evolved to become a fly pattern that has survived and is used today.
Fly of the Month 03.24a Sunkist
Sunkist [Wulff]
Hook: Mustad 94840
Size: 12, 14, 16
Thread: 6/0 Black
Wing: White calf tail fibers
Tail: Deer hair fibers
Body: Orange dubbing fur
Hackle: Brown
Outpost, Sylva. Local pattern: James R. Conner.
Reference: Southern Appalachian
Our remote trout headwaters in out Southern Appalachians may be labeled as roughwater. Sure, between riffles and runs there are typically the deeper, glassy surface pools. Yet even the pools have one or more heads where water cascades into the pool as a rough whitewater run and one or more short drops at the tail that can readily sink a dry fly if not quickly retrieved at the last moment. Fly fishing anglers resolved this problem by utilizing animal hair for the wing to build a more durable dry fly. The most well-known roughwater dry flies are the Wulff series.
We often hear a fellow fly fishing angler say that for some reason, yellow is the key color for a dry fly on a Southern Appalachian trout stream. True, but our native brook trout are opportunistic to the degree that they will strike any one of many bright colors found floating like an inset in their feeding lane. Having experimented with orange, the local Sunkist [Wulff] fly pattern is an excellent roughwater Brookie attractor!
In the Southern Appalachians the use of orange to attract fish has little history. The Orange Palmer and the Partridge and Orange Softhackle fly patterns are pretty much the full story. You will not find the Sunkist in fly shops as it is very much a local fly pattern, not as well-known as the Royal Wulff, but none the less, it is highly effective as a go-to roughwater fly pattern. You may well find the fly available and sold locally in tackle shops, service stations and general stores throughout the North Carolina mountains where a local tier is making part of his living tying and selling his flies.
A size 12 and size 14 Sunkist is all you will encounter in local stores. If you use want a size 16 for your favorite wild stream which allows hooking the smaller Brookies, then you will need to tie your own size 16 Sunkist. The Sunkist is especially effective on headwater wild streams in North Carolina.
Over many generations of fly tyers and anglers, the use of hair-wing flies has blossomed. Some fly patterns are creative modifications of the Wulff series. Other hair-wing fly patterns have their own unique origin of how the fly pattern evolved to become a fly pattern that has survived and is used today.
Fly of the Month 03.24a Sunkist
Sunkist [Wulff]
Hook: Mustad 94840
Size: 12, 14, 16
Thread: 6/0 Black
Wing: White calf tail fibers
Tail: Deer hair fibers
Body: Orange dubbing fur
Hackle: Brown
Outpost, Sylva. Local pattern: James R. Conner.
Reference: Southern Appalachian