Fly choice

[afishinado]

What fly to use?

 

[NewSal]

One of my goals in fly fishing is to find the ultimate general nymph pattern, for use during all times.
So far I've found that a sz 18, or 16 pheasant tail, tied with a undersized hen hackle collar has consistently caught fish for me.
I really believe that the soft hackle style collar is a huge trigger, and you really can't beat the natural pheasant tail color.

 

[steveo27]

Green weenie ;-) :hammer:

 

[NewSal]

steveo27 wrote:
Green weenie ;-) :hammer:

Yup, cant go wrong with a weenie or another "junk fly", and a PT, or Hares ear trailer.

 

[dc410]

Pheasant tails sure are tough to beat as a fish catcher. However, I still really love tying and fishing almost any kind of fur bodied nymph. Natural colors, spikey guard hairs, air bubbles just always seem to produce on a consistent basis. Hares ear, muskrat, squirrel, mink, beaver, fox or a combination of any of the above or any other roadkill you pick up along the way make some awesome fur bodied nymphs.

 

[Dave_W]

Here's a pic of some nymphs I seined in Fishing Creek at the jam some years ago: note the green rock worm caddis - this may explain the effectiveness of the GW (as well as inchworms in summer).

It's also worth noting in both photos of the slender, delicate structure of these nymphs. This may explain the effectiveness of the traditional PT nymph. Small, slender, and sparse, are good guidlines for tying nymphs for PA. . . . Generally.

 

[Sylvaneous]

And look at how much 'stuff' is hanging off the clinger nymphs. The substantial legs and tails are visible at this distance. Closer, the fluttering gills along the thorax could be seen. So there's the benefit of a 'buggy' nymph. Maybe better yet that's why we say a shaggy fly looks buggy. 'cause it does!

Looking at great fly catalogs like the one from 'The Fly Shop' you see so very many different nymphs. Daunting choices. Eh, it's fun to tie new flies with new stuff. It allows for artistic expression and we fool ourselves as to what will cause the fish to respond.

I believe Yvonne Chounard fished only slight modifications of the pheasant tail nymph in all kinds of sizes for all kinds of different fish. And it worked. As UN-sexy it is, and how no company can sell this to you, cast well. Hunt the fish well. Go places where the fish live. Do it enough to get those lucky good days. You can't catch fish if your hook's not in the water.

And if you're nymphing, follow the conclusions we are reminded of here.

Syl

P.S. and fish green weenies and angora rabbit sucker spawn, too. And black ants when the season is right.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Hmmmmmm, looking at that I'd go with....
A streamer of course :lol:

A lot of fish turn down hors d'oeuvres once steak has arrived

 

[WildTigerTrout]

Hare's ear, pheasant tail and the Green Weenie. ALL great trout flies.

 

[Jaybird]

Im always looking for the magic bullet to , but water type , season , and gradient ,change what insects Iam trying to match . That all said last year seined a small Pocono stream in the winter that was loaded with iso nymphs , my buddy put on a blue soft hackle and did well , I matched the iso and he caught 3 times more fish .

 

[redietz]

Jaybird wrote:
Im always looking for the magic bullet to , but water type , season , and gradient ,change what insects Iam trying to match . That all said last year seined a small Pocono stream in the winter that was loaded with iso nymphs , my buddy put on a blue soft hackle and did well , I matched the iso and he caught 3 times more fish .

Matching the hatch is often overrated, especially if by "matching the hatch" you mean you're using a fly that looks like the prevalent insect. Matching behavior and putting the fly where the fish are feeding is usually more import. In the case you mention, iso nymphs are strong swimmers, and you (usually) dredging the bottom dead-drift isn't going to be as productive as fishing a fly that's moving and looks alive (like a soft hackle.) I wouldn't have been surprised at all by the results.

Trout, although they have color perception, don't see the spectrum in the same way we do,. That's in part because water filters out some colors, and in part because human color perception is greatly enhanced in that part of the spectrum which distinguishes fruit from leaves (a tremendous advantage to our ancestors.) Matching for color is an iffy proposition.

 

[ryansheehan]

My father would often remind me as I changed flies "its not the fly, you suck"

 

[tomgamber]

If you are looking to standardize your patterns, I feel like an Adams, Hare's Ear and Wooley bugger in many, many, many colors and sizes could keep you pretty solid for a while. Eventually the trout will stump you but that's why there are literally thousands of patterns.

 

[1hook]

It would be fun to drop a pheasant tail or hairs ear in there next time you do that but clip the hook off so just the body shows. Do a little where's Waldo