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By Anthony Naples, on May 3rd, 2011
It is the time of year when a young man’s thoughts turn to…sulphurs. Well, at least if he’s an eastern fly fisher. Again I’m presenting an experimental set of flies. This time I’m focusing on the sulphur hatch through a tenkara colored lens. Make it what you want, but in my opinion tenkara angling really shines for fishing unweighted (or lightly weighted) wet flies and nymphs, after all that is how it evolved. Sure you can fish heavy nymphs – but the wispy tenkara rod tip is just not great at handling these, it can be done but it is not aesthetically pleasing (it’s sort of a round hole/square peg thing). I don’t prefer it for dry flies – although tenkara handles dry flies beautifully and I don’t hesitate to fish dries with the tenkara rod. Some tenkara anglers may disagree with me but I find t difficult to create the “snap” necessary to really dry out a soggy dry fly with the tenkara rod. Sure that’s a small complaint, and you can always squeeze the water out with a shirt or whatever – but nonetheless…I will stick with my assertion that wet fly fishing is my favorite application of tenkara.
With that in mind I turned an eye to my sulphur box and tried to create some tenkara inspired flies based on old favorites. These are not tried and true patterns but I have no doubt that they’ll fool a few fish anyway. Once I give them a try on the hatch – I’ll report back on the results.
 This is a selection of soft-hackle emergers, all but the bottom left fly are tied with biot bodies. They represent a range of emergence states.
 A couple of more traditional sulphur wet flies tied with bunny fur bodies and grouse hackle.
 Sulphur nymph wet fly: This is based on a basic sulphur nymph pattern with a black wing-case to suggest a nymph about to “hatch”. In this version I simply used black fur abdomen and a wet fly style collar of grouse hackle instead of a wingcase and legs.
 Sulphur Sakasa Kebari: This bunch is perhaps the most typically “tenkara-esque” of the flies that I tied. I’m pretty new to the whole reverse-hackled sakasa kebari style wet flies, so I’m anxious to give these a whirl.
 Sunken spinner wet fly – this is based on Pa angler/writer/guide Eric Stroup’s pattern as seen in a Rise Forms Studio TV fly tying video.
By Anthony Naples, on May 3rd, 2011
I’m never one to tout flies that I haven’t tried, so let me make it perfectly clear that this fly is still in development. Hopefully it will get field tested very soon (rain, rain stay away…). The driving force for this nymph is to get a natural mottled effect for my sulphur nymphs. I’ve tried hand blending dubbing, but I just don’t like doing it that way, it doesn’t feel elegant enough. Some shades of pheasant tail provide a very nice effect for sure – but I didn’t happen to have any of that on hand, so I dug into what I had and this is what I came up with – mallard dyed wood duck, mixed with turkey tail. I think it gives a nice looking mottled body. Is there a need for a new sulphur nymph? Probably not. But as you fly tyers know there doesn’t have to be a practical reason to try new things at the tying bench. Coming up with new combinations of materials to tie on a hook is it’s own reward, and if it actually catches fish, well that is bonus.
Turkey Mallard Sulphur Nymph:
Hook: Size 14 to 18
Thread: Rusty Brown Uni-thread
Tail: Mallard dyed wood duck flank feather fibers
Abdomen: Fibers from a turkey tail and mallard dyed wood duck flank feather twisted to form a “rope” and then wrapped onto hook.
Wing Case: Turkey tail
Abdomen: Amber dubbing
Legs: Grouse feather (partridge would work) – try to find nicely mottled feathers.
By Anthony Naples, on September 10th, 2010
Poem #10: Ephemerella Invaria
one or two yellow irises bloom, unfolded and delicate,
at their feet the stream pauses, circling, traced in foam and going nowhere fast
out among the rocks and pockets, a banner of gold flashes,
fleeing, being born, eating, dying, procreating, the hatch begins
browns feast on the emerging, pale watery duns,
anglers, like gargoyles are stationed on the shore
yellow-orange flies lie in rows, in boxes,
sulfur is such a strange word to describe
the color of mayflies.
By Anthony Naples, on April 25th, 2009
 Yellow and Partridge Soft Hackle Classic Wet Fly: Yellow and Partridge Soft Hackle
Hook: Standard Light Wire Dry Fly or Stout Wet Fly Hook, sizes 10 to 20
Abdomen: Yellow Floss
Rib: Fine Copper Wire
Thorax: Hare’s Ear Dubbing
Collar: Hungarian Partridge
Notes: Use light-wire standard dry-fly hooks for some and stout wet fly hooks for others. This will give you the ability to fish in the surface film, or deeper depending on the hook.
The thorax of hare’s ear dubbing should be dubbed large enough so that it can support the soft hackle -the thorax is there primarily to prevent the partridge hackle from collapsing against the body.
I like the effect of using a copper rib for the appearance of segmentation – not all tyers do this. I feel more confident fishing it with the ribbing though.
Make sure to tie the partridge in very sparse – stripping the hackle fibers from one side of the feather can help to keep it sparse.
Fishing Notes: I haven’t fished this color variation as much as the Green and Partridge. I include it though because I’ve had success with it during yellow crane-fly activity. I haven’t yet used it for the Sulphur Hatch, however Dave Hughes in his book Wet Flies, recommends it for this.
By Anthony Naples, on April 21st, 2009
 Rich's Sulphur Emerger Rich’s Sulphur Emerger:
Hook:Standard Dry Fly Hook, size 14 – 18
Thread: Camel Brown
Thorax: Orange-Sulphur Fly-Rite Dubbing
Abdomen: Orange-Sulphur Fly-Rite Dubbing
Legs: Dark soft hackle fibers
Tail (shuck): Mallard dyed wood duck
Wing: Tuft of muskrat from the pelt
Notes: I can remember walking into South Hills Rod and Reel about 15 years ago and telling Rich Roseborough that I was going to Spring Creek (in Pennsylvania) for the Sulphur Hatch. He took me over to the fly counter, picked out a small fly, handed it to me and said “Tie some of these.” What he handed me was a sulphur emerger pattern. Boy was he right – I had a banner day catching fish on that emerger. Rich retired and closed the shop a few years back – but I’ll never forget the fish that I caught on that fly.
Well, the pattern pictured above is similar to what Rich showed me. It has probably been unconsciously mutated over the years – so how close it is to the original I can’t be sure anymore. But it still works. I’m not sure what Rich called it , so I’m calling it Rich’s Sulphur Emerger.
I generally tie it in 16 and 18. On Spring Creek, as the sulphur hatch proceeds the bugs get smaller – so it’s good to be prepared with several sizes. I generally fish it as a dropper under a comparadun or parachute sulphur dry.
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Tenkara Bum Flies and More 
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This is a selection of soft-hackle emergers, all but the bottom left fly are tied with biot bodies. They represent a range of emergence states.
A couple of more traditional sulphur wet flies tied with bunny fur bodies and grouse hackle.
Sulphur nymph wet fly: This is based on a basic sulphur nymph pattern with a black wing-case to suggest a nymph about to “hatch”. In this version I simply used black fur abdomen and a wet fly style collar of grouse hackle instead of a wingcase and legs.
Sulphur Sakasa Kebari: This bunch is perhaps the most typically “tenkara-esque” of the flies that I tied. I’m pretty new to the whole reverse-hackled sakasa kebari style wet flies, so I’m anxious to give these a whirl.
Sunken spinner wet fly – this is based on Pa angler/writer/guide Eric Stroup’s pattern as seen in a Rise Forms Studio TV fly tying video.
