Spring/Early Summer Trout Flies

cricketontherun

cricketontherun

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Joined
Jul 12, 2010
Messages
85
So; I'm still pretty new back to the area, and I'm looking to start filling/adding to my fly box for the spring/summer trout season here in PA. If anyone can offer up some must have patterns I would be grateful. If it helps I live in Western PA, but I do get out to central PA and the National forest/Potter County area's as often as I can. Thanks Again!
 
gfen wrote:

Buy some pheasant tails and some hare's ears for nymphs, 14-18.
Buy some peacock soft hackles for wets, 14.
Buy some elk hair or CDC-and-elk caddis dries, 14-16.
Buy some Adams dry flies, regular and parachute, 12-18.
Buy some Blue Wing Olive dry flies, regular and parachute, 16-18.
Buy some Sulphur dry flies, regular and parachute, 14-16.
Buy some beetles 14-16, grasshoppers 8-10, and ants 14-16, and Royal Wulffs, 12-16.
On edit..
Buy some Wooly Buggers in olive and black for streamers, 6-8

Go out and have a good time. You've got your bases covered. You'll figure the rest out with due time.

If its graceful and slender while it flies, its a mayfly.
If its mothlike and spastic, its a caddis fly.
If its anything else, use an appropriate caddis or mayfly anyways. Its fishing, not rocket science.

If the bug coming off the water is light, use a sulpher. If its dark, use an Adams. If its tiny and olve, its a BWO. If you can't tell, use an Adams or a BWO (you'll figure them otu quick enough). If there's nothing, but you want to prospect or just have fun, use one of the terrestials[sic] or the Wulff.

That's it. Seriously. Don't let anyoen[sic] tell you its more complex.
 
I have been asking many questions about what flies I should have. I pretty much have my bases covered. I followed your post and got 4 of each ...
I got to see your box while we were at the mini jam and it didn't seem like you had all these but i could be wrong. Actually it looked like you carried 4-6 of same things but like i said, im not sure. As of now, i have 2- 2 sided boxes. How many of each fly do you carry in your box? Should i carry every variety you have on the list and a couple of each or just 1?
I would appriciate a little help on how i should set my box up to take out on the stream.

I've been meaning to write back to teh guy who PM'd me this, but I never did.

This is an opportune time.

Other guy is right, I don't actually carry all of my list because I am contrary and set in my ways. I also liek what I like, and that list was composed as a way to cover all your bases and let you form your own opinions.

I do generally carry mostly the same thing, but the important part is what I bolded.

Yep, carry 'em all. Its not a very big list, and you'll be ultimately prepared for what shows up. That's the beauty of a generic list. Let's KISS:
I bought only Adams dry flies (coz I'm a snob) in the following colours: Brown, grey, and cream. I bought them in 18 through 12. I have three of each.

That's it. I'm essentially covered for whatever happens, because now when I see a fly buzz by, I snatch it out of the air and I look. Its about 1/2" big, and its kinda dark brown. I look at my box and, I see that its about the same size as this size 14. I don't have that exact shade, but it splits the difference between brown and grey, so I pick the one I'm comfortable with.

I don't worry abotu its species or any of that, because I'm curious like cat (they call me Whiskers), when I go home I hit the innertubez and find out what it was, but at the time, that didn't matter.

Some guys carry 6+ boxes with every conceivable pattern. Someday, you may be one of them. Now, however, that just slows you down. If you carry only a few patterns, but in all sizes or colorus, you know what you need will be close enough.

Fly fishermen make this sport complex. It doesn't need to be, unless you seek that. You may, but let that happen naturally.
 
It seems to be an age old argument. You seem like the brother from a River Runs Through It who keeps like 20 flies in the band of his hat and relies on varying presentations to induce strikes. The narrator of the story is the 20-box sort of guy. I am somewhere in the middle. I like a couple specific flies, but I find myself fishing more(and catching more fish) with the generic ones.
 
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