Nymph and Emerger Coloration

[pmjasper]

Well since I've gotten back into fly fishing last fall I've tried to do some research on the coloration of some of the more common hatches here in NJ and NY state. While many of the books and online sites I have viewed show mayfly duns in great detail, the nymphs and their specific coloration seem to be more difficult to find. When I've searched for Hendricksons, Light and Dark Cahills, Sulphurs, Quill Gordons, etc. most books give varying degrees of coloration, such as, "nymphs may be a dark brown to a lighter cream coloration". This seems to be such a wide spectrum from dark to light that I was wondering if there may be a more accurate source regarding nymph coloration. I've also incurred some slight difficulty in the fact that the sources I have viewed will often mention the duns with their common names such as sulphurs, hendricksons, etc., while the nymphs seem more commonly referred to in their scientific genus. Thus I've been trying my best to match up common duns with nymphs.

I was also wondering when you guys tie your emerger patterns do you utilize the dun coloration, the nymph coloration or a combination of both? One source I looked at stated that it was important to utilize a trailing shuck of the nymph color and a body of the dun color, as the emerging dun is hatching. This seemed to make sense but some of the emerger patterns out there seem to resemble the nymph coloration and thus I was wondering what those here on the board thought. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.