Craig Denis lives 20-minutes from excellent fly water on the Mid-Upper Kennebec River. He fishes often and I'd classify him as an expert river man. I had the pleasure of fishing with Craig and his dog, Bo, over the summer of 2005 and he developed a wet fly emerger that catches fish.

As he told me, his friend was fishing a standard soft hackle wet fly that Craig had given him and after landing a good number of Trout and Salmon, the fly started to come apart. The hackle had unraveled and was trailing the hook. Nevertheless, his friend continued to fish the fly. Here is what's remarkable; The fly performed even better! Craig decided to tie copies of the chewed up fly. The Kennebec Candy Bar.

Craig often casts what he calls a "Triple Haul". Often when he needs a long cast combined with a slack line drift, he'll double-haul 60 feet and as the fly is about to land, he'll haul a third time. The third haul jerks the fly backwards slightly, placing more slack in the font portion of the cast. It's fun to watch. TRY IT!
 

Craig Denis' Kennebec Candy Bar

Hook: Any wet fly hook sized to the hatch.
Thread: Color to match the hatch.
Tail: Few strands of Krystal Flash unevenly trimmed extending 3/4 shank length.
Body: Dubbed to match hatch.
Wing: Barred Grizzly hackle tip extending a hook length.
Collar: Partridge or duck soft hackle 2 turns.
Head: Oversized (a substitute of bead or dubbing is OK)

My Bead head soft hackle version of Craig's "Kennebec Candy Bar" Emerger

Craig suggests to try this fly in assorted colors (he likes a size 14) and fish it in the film during a Caddis emergence. Often, just at the end of the drift, fish will smack the fly, so let the cast play out and twitch it on the swing.