Summertime Sulfurs and Olives

During the summer months the East and West Branches of the Delaware offer some of the most reliable dry fly fishing found in the east. Although quite a few species of insects will be on the water during this period the ones most important to fly fishermen fall under the category of Sulfur's or Olive's. From early July through Mid August tiny Sulfurs (#18 and Smaller) make up the bulk of our Trout's daily diet. From mid August until the cold weather shuts down the fishery tiny Olive's (#18 and Smaller) become the daily staple.

Because these insects emerge by the thousands, are tiny in size and found in the slow glassy pools typical of summer and autumn, fooling fish at this time can be quite difficult. While our guides may use a variety of patterns and stages of these insects at times, we still have our best luck fishing the dun stage of these insects during the emergence.

During all of our early season hatches we prefer dun imitations that sit low and have bodies that penetrate the surface of the water such as parachutes, comparadun's, cdc comparaduns and klinkhammer's.  For our summer fishing however we find these patterns to be just so-so.

After observing thousands of these tiny insects floating down river drying their wings one can quickly see the reason why flush floating flies don't get the same results as during the early season hatches. These tiny Duns float on the surface film with only their legs making an impression on the water. The majority of these tiny duns hold their abdomens so high that their tails almost touch the tips of their wings.

After some trial and error with different dry fly styles I've found that on a daily basis Thorax Style dry flies will produce the most action.  Although this style has lost some of it's popularity to parachutes and cdc comparaduns, during summer and autumn it is my go to style when guiding on the East, West and Main Delaware. When fished downstream in a drag free fashion this fly will sit high on the water with the same silhouette as the naturals and consistently produce confident takes.

We tie the thorax patterns in the traditional style but with a few minor modifications. Most importantly we angle our tails upwards to mimic the naturals. We also have substituted CDC for the wing material and Turkey or Goose Biots for the abdomens. Under close scrutiny these materials create realism unequalled by other materials.

Here are a couple of our favorite Thorax pattern recipes. Please note the x wrapped hackle on the photo enlargements. This style of wrapping the hackle is what produces the correct impression on the surface of the water.