Five or so must tie flys

[71jeep]

Hi All...

I am new here and thought I would say hi and post a question to you all and get your thoughts.

I was an advid fly fisherman and tyer for a while but went back to my old ways of the spinning gear I know sinful sorry .But have no fear I really have the bug to start learning again trying to figure some of this flyfishing stuff out.
(anyone out there want a fishing partner for a while :-D ).
Anyway one main reason I went to the darkside is because I just overwhelmed myself trying to tie everything there was to tie,having every material available ect. .ect. If you all got to know me I usually dive in head first and dont check if I am in the deep end of the pool :-D any who this brings me to my question what are the must have in my box for eastern PA streams.
I know this is going to be hard to give just five or so but give it a try no wrong answers thanks allot appreciate the info.


Thanks
Allen....

 

[afishinado]

5 is tough, I came up with 6:


Wooly Bugger - streamer type that can look like a minnow, large nymph or crayfish depending on the color and size

Hare's Ear - generic nymph that represents a lot of bugs including caddis pupa, stoneflies and well as mayflies

Beetle - Terrestrial dry that catches fish through the spring into the late fall

Elk Hair Caddis or CDC & Elk - Dry fly for caddis and stonefly hatches

Adams - Dry fly for dark colored mayflies

Cahill or Sulfur pattern - Dry fly for light colored mayflies

I would be confident that I can be successful in any PA stream (freestone) using only these flies tied in different sizes and colors.

BTW, most of my fish are caught underneath in non-hatch situations, but the pattern is less important than when something is hatching and trout are keying on them. Different size and color Buggers and HEs do the job for me.

 

[Acristickid]

I would add these two the list:

pheasant tail nymphs from size 16 to 20
(for me- I have caught the most trout on this pattern)

here is one of the 15 different ways or more to tie them-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQyCB5CwEt4


egg pattern sizes 12,14,16

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH89oNSlMIA

Might sound strange but I have alot of confidence fishing these two patterns.

Good luck.

 

[jayL]

I'm basically with afish. I mostly use subsurface flies, and am confident that I can catch fish with them 99% of the time, even during hatches. I prefer to fish dries during hatches, but if I had to pick just 5 flies, I would probably do a good bit of nymphing during the hatch.

cdc and elk- Covers most caddis hatches, and is one of my better flies during early sulphur hatches oddly enough. I would bring some in light and dark colors.

black/olive bugger- all around, all season producer.

sucker spawn- for late winter/early spring fishing, as well as catching stocked rainbows year 'round.

hare's ear on a scud hook- Covers scuds, cressbugs, and about 40,000 species of nymphs.

zebra midge- covers midges, tiny nymphs, and scuds.

If you'll go for 6, I'd add a bead head pheasant tail soft hackle since it's basically my go to fly all spring.

 

[gfen]

Only five? Well, no way you'll get such a concise list, so pick your favourites.. I'd add:

Soft hackle wet flies. A body of peacock herl or silk, ribbed with silver or gold oval tinsel and a hackle from partridge, grouse, or hen all on a 12 through 18 hook. Weighted or bead heads optional.

Uncased caddis: Bright green dubbing body, black thread head. If you're feeling saucy, can tie in some partridge legs. Use weight to get them down, although this isn't too different from a green weenie on the surface.

The softhackle covers any number of emerging, diving, or drowned flies, or even swimming nymphs. The uncased caddis uses bright neon green, and trout seem to find that irresistable, and caddis are an important part of every stream.

 

[71jeep]

Wow allot of great info so far thankyou very much but with info comes more questions one in perticular.
And I know this is going to sound like a dumb question but I see a few of you have mentioned wet fly or soft hackle how are these fished this has always confused me??
Thank allot guys!!


Allen.....

 

[jayL]

With flies like soft hackles, streamers, and buggers, thinking that there is a particular method to using them is a misstep. Just having them in the water is good enough to catch fish most of the time.

In other words, dead drift, swing, twitch, strip, etc. I do dead drifting with PT soft hackles most of the time, and let it swing at the end of the drift.

 

[gfen]

I usually cast across and let swing down, then at the apex, I'll lift and drop three times, then do a slow strip back in when the fly is directly down from me.

 

[Coughlin]

I'd only add that the soft hackle is the go to fly in my box. The others mentioned catch fish for sure and I use them frequently, but I can't remember an outing where a soft hackle didn't get tied on at some point.
Coughlin

 

[tomgamber]

afish is spot on in my opinion.

 

[GreenWeenie]

I’ll take a slightly different approach and suggest 5 flies that are easy to tie and ones where you can maximize use of the same cheap material to minimize material purchases. The 5 flies I would tie and they all catch fish are:

- Woolly Buggers (black chenille, black marabou & cheap black woolly bugger hackle tied on #10 4x long streamer hooks - imitates almost anything bouncing on the bottom)

- Hare’s Ear (hare’s mask, fine gold wire, duck quills tied on 2x long #14 nymph hooks - a great suggestive nymph that imitates both mayfly and caddis)

- Copper Johns (use the gold rib for the body, peacock herl tied on 2x long #18 nymph hooks - a great midge emerger imitation)

- Large red (or pink) San Juan Worm (use 2x long #14 hook and slightly bend the shank, material is chenille - who knows what they think it is but it works incredible on some days)

- Walts Worm (hare’s mask and gold wire tied on the #10 streamer hook - a great general "junk" fly that imitates something edible bouncing along the bottom)

In addition to this you need black, tan and red/pink thread.

For a scud, tie the hare’s mask or the peacock herl on the #14 hook and tie on a shellback with plastic cut from a zip lock bag and use the fine gold wire as a rib and you’ve actually got yourself two decent scud imitations at no additional cost.

For a gray version of a scud or nymph, use grayish lint from the clothes drier – it’s free and it works.

You can also use the duck duck quills and tie them wet fly style to bodies made from peacock, hare’s mask and lint and either leave the quills long suggesting a drowned fly (or small fish) or tie the quills short to imitate an emerger.

In most instances if you know how to get the fly to behave like a natural and fish it where the fish are feeding you will catch fish – a lot more than fishing an exact match incorrectly. Trout key in on characteristics and behaving naturally is a key characteristic and more often than not more important than the actual pattern being a perfect match.

 

[flipnfly]

i do well on a wet fly that has a bead thorax a quill body and phesant soft hackle i fish that when they are tired of woolybuggers and nothing is hatching

 

[jrcll]

i`m pretty much in line with afish, i`d have to throw in a grifith`s gnat

 

[boss_steb]

I am in agreement with the general group...although I fish almost exclusively under the surface and would throw in a caddis pattern in either the green or I have had a great deal of success with a light tan/white caddis...two fly it with a small Beadhead flashback PT and I am golden almost any day on the water...

On top, elk hair caddis, ants, adams...round it out

 

[littlelehigh]

First welcome to the board it's always nice to see others from the Valley on here. I didn't read everybody's reponses but I'd agree with everything Afish mentioned.


Please check your PM about getting together sometime.

 

[afishinado]

GreenWeenie wrote:
I’ll take a slightly different approach and suggest 5 flies that are easy to tie and ones where you can maximize use of the same cheap material to minimize material purchases. The 5 flies I would tie and they all catch fish are:

- Woolly Buggers (black chenille, black marabou & cheap black woolly bugger hackle tied on #10 4x long streamer hooks - imitates almost anything bouncing on the bottom)

- Hare’s Ear (hare’s mask, fine gold wire, duck quills tied on 2x long #14 nymph hooks - a great suggestive nymph that imitates both mayfly and caddis)

- Copper Johns (use the gold rib for the body, peacock herl tied on 2x long #18 nymph hooks - a great midge emerger imitation)

- Large red (or pink) San Juan Worm (use 2x long #14 hook and slightly bend the shank, material is chenille - who knows what they think it is but it works incredible on some days)

- Walts Worm (hare’s mask and gold wire tied on the #10 streamer hook - a great general "junk" fly that imitates something edible bouncing along the bottom)

In addition to this you need black, tan and red/pink thread.

For a scud, tie the hare’s mask or the peacock herl on the #14 hook and tie on a shellback with plastic cut from a zip lock bag and use the fine gold wire as a rib and you’ve actually got yourself two decent scud imitations at no additional cost.

For a gray version of a scud or nymph, use grayish lint from the clothes drier – it’s free and it works.

You can also use the duck duck quills and tie them wet fly style to bodies made from peacock, hare’s mask and lint and either leave the quills long suggesting a drowned fly (or small fish) or tie the quills short to imitate an emerger.

In most instances if you know how to get the fly to behave like a natural and fish it where the fish are feeding you will catch fish – a lot more than fishing an exact match incorrectly. Trout key in on characteristics and behaving naturally is a key characteristic and more often than not more important than the actual pattern being a perfect match.

GW, have you been looking over my shoulder? :lol:

A lot of good stuff in your post especially the last paragraph.

But what about a Green Weenie Greenweenie?

 

[71jeep]

Wow guys great info guys thanks much I am going to have to sit down this weekend and rehone the skills and tie up some of these patterns that I do not have L
look forward to running into some you fellows on the stream thanks.

And Littlelehigh got you PM and sent one right back thanks.

i do well on a wet fly that has a bead thorax a quill body and phesant soft hackle i fish that when they are tired of woolybuggers and nothing is hatching

Last thing Flipnfly do you have a pic or a place that has the reciepe or even just colors that sounds like a good fly or a fly would like to try.

Thanks again

Allen....

 

[GreenWeenie]

Afish,

It actually was a toss up between a GW and a SJW. Both work great and both are must haves in my box but if I had to pick just one I’d go with a red or pink SJW.

The reason is based on personal experience and observing the productivity and effectiveness of a GW compared to a SJW. My conclusion is it all has to do with sunlight. Under the right light conditions a properly fished GW is like a fish magnet and trout will come from all over to inhale it but under the wrong light conditions it is like a fish repellent literally scaring the fish. I’ve witnessed this many, many times and although I don’t have the scientific proof, I’m convinced that if the sunlight is not intense enough the chartreuse color doesn’t light up enough and if the sunlight is too intense it lights up like a Christmas tree. Either way, under the wrong light conditions a GW tends to send fish scurrying for cover.

On the other hand a dead drifted SJW slowly rolling along the bottom always seems to work and sometimes it really does kill them.

 

[afishinado]

So you're gunna change your screen name to San Jaun...right?!? ;-)

 

[GreenWeenie]

Actually, the Green Weenie moniker is an inside joke with a friend of mine. I mostly fish the spring creeks (Big Spring especially) and one day about 2 years ago I took this friend to Big Spring for his first visit to a spring creek. He was content to fish the ditch and all he used was a #10 GW on a 4x tippet and probably caught a dozen fish in a few hours (much to my surprise and some were rainbows in the 15" range). So on the way home I wanted to show him the Letort so we stopped at Bonneybrook. He grabbed his rod complete with 4x tippet and #10 GW and just stomped out onto to the footbridge making no effort to be quiet or conceal himself and just dropped the GW in the water on the upstream side of the bridge and jigged it up and down. I'll be an SOB, on about the 3rd jig a 20" brown came out rfom under the bridge and inhaled it. I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it myself.

So after that day a GW is pretty much what this guy fishes exclusively and believe it or not, he doesn't do that badly with it. He calls his strategy as targeting stupid fish.