DHE versus CDC and elk

[col]

In Bob Wyatts book , himself and Hans Willienman seem to have a bit of banter about who's fly is best. What do you think i'm a cdc and elk man myself, a great catcher of fish, covers a variety of fly life and only takes 2 minutes to tie what do you favour?

Col

[Wildfisher]

CDC and elk it's a fly I have caught a lot of fish on, unlike the DHE.  If I want a sunk abdomen fly I use a klink.

[haresear]

In Bob Wyatts book , himself and Hans Willienman seem to have a bit of banter about who's fly is best. What do you think i'm a cdc and elk man myself, a great catcher of fish, covers a variety of fly life and only takes 2 minutes to tie what do you favour?

Col

I would have a look at the book, but I would have to prise it back out of Harelug's mitts :roll:

I've done fine with both flies, but I've largely done away with the elk/deer wing in either fly and often use McFlylon yarn instead.

To answer the question..I suppose the DHE has given me more fish.


Alex

[Wildfisher]

It's a while since I read the book, but I seem to remember something about a shoot-out between the flies that the DHE won.

That means little though,  how you could do an objective,  comparative test  escapes me. Having confidence in your fly  will help  you catch more fish on  it, how can you quantify that?

I like the CDC and Elk but like all CDC dry flies it's a high maintenance job, especially after the first fish; best to have several  to swap about. A bottle of dry shake does no harm either.

[bibio1]

I would opt for the DHE on rivers everytime but have started to use calf tail instead of deer hair for durability. On lochs the elk wins for me. My preference is usually based on not having to deal with CDC at the start of the season when its cold wet and after a  fish can be difficult to float. So lazyness wins everytime. My only critisism of DHE is sometimes if not tied properly or an offest hook is used the fly acts as a wee helicopter where as CDC  and elk does not.

paul

[bibio1]

yip and dry shake and that preen oil but sometimes after a few casts and maybe one fish the fly needs changed. Not  saying I don't like CDC just that I prefer a more robust wing early in the season.

[Wildfisher]

I do find  the CDC +Elk needs a lot  of attention, but maybe it's just me. It's worth it though and I think  it covers a wider imitation range than the DHE, if you allow the  CDC to become wet you have a kind of an emerger, you can even sink it and fish it as a wet.  I'm sure these legs are   a trigger, just like  a hopper, a tarantula etc.

[rabbitangler]

Replace the Deer with Snowshoe rabbit & you get the finesse of CDC with the wearability of Deer

[bibio1]

Col

thats an AHBDHE, ( Any Hair But Deer Hair Emerger), completely different fly.

paul

[Wildfisher]

Never had much success with it on either Smurf- the odd fish - but found the klink works well everywhere. As Wyatt himself said you'll fish better with flies you have confidence in.