The Taco Emerger was inspired by the split case patterns which are popular in the US
The Taco was inspired by the split case patterns which are popular in the US. These are intended to imitate species of mayflies that split their wing case as they rise up through the water column on their way to hatching. A typical example is Joe Mitchell’s Split Case PMD which features a piece of bright yellow foam tied in over the thorax and partially covered with black goose biots on either side to represent the split wing case.
I set out to tie a nymph with an actual split wing case with the inner contents spilling out from the top of the thorax. A few experiments later the Taco was hatched, the name was pretty obvious.
In the water the fine hollow Vicuña fibres trap air bubbles and give the impression of an upwing nymph struggling to unfold its flying gear. This stage of life is very attractive to hungry fish, it being an easy snack that isn’t going to fly away.
Fished naked the fly will sit fairly high up in the water, I had to poke the one in the underwater image several times to get it to sink. Dress the fly with a light coat of floatant and it will hang in the surface film, so you can serve it up just as the fish want it.
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