Egg Pattern Pictures...let's see yours, pls.

[BruceC2C]

We all have our quirks.
One of mine is avoidance of Egg Patterns and San Juan/ Squirmy Worms.

That said, today I made a fairly firm commitment to myself...to learn how to tie and fish Egg Patterns.

I know this is all pretty fundamental stuff, but I am still interested to see pics and hear stories about how yours came to be....as well as how u rig and fish them .

Thank u all

 

[PennKev]

Sorry, no pics. None handy and too lazy anyway.

Nuke Eggs and Suckerspawn tied with Glo Bug yarn are my go to patterns. "Oregon Cheese" and similar shades of yellow are my go to, particularly when coupled with hot orange tying thread. Pale orange, peach and pink shades are great too. Chartreuse is good. Very bold, opaque oranges and reds are least effective for me, but just about any color will have it's day, particularly if you are after steelhead. Between Glo Bug yarn, McFlyFoam, Eggstacy and other materials there are a myriad of colors, many of them very similar. Everyone will have shades they prefer.

Whatever you do, use half as much material as you think you need. That's true of almost any pattern that uses yarn as the main material. In fact, usually the bare minimum is best, even if the flies don't look quite as neat and perfect. Although sparsely tied flies have a nice, natural translucency, the critical thing is to create flies that sink readily and drift naturally. Dense yarn eggs will not sink quickly and just don't fish as well as lightly dressed ones.

In the same vein, smaller patterns usually fish better. For wild trout, I often fish a single-egg style fly of pea size or smaller. I prefer unweighted egg flies but flies tied with lead wire underbodies or beads are common.

A variety of nymph techniques work, just make sure their getting down and drifting right.

Finally, if the eggs aren't working. Try something else. The egg bite can be really hot or really cold, even for steelhead

 

[dc410]

I always thought that Jeff Blood’s blood dot egg pattern was a pretty neat pattern. I think he mainly ties it as a steelhead pattern but I’ve caught trout on it basically fishing it down in the water column like you would a nymph. I honestly don’t really fish egg patterns very consistently so I don’t have many tips from that end. PennKev’s points in the above post seem to me to be pretty solid advice.

Here is a photo of one of Jeff Blood’s blood dot eggs that I tied as well as a photo of it wet. If you Google “Jeff Blood’s blood dot egg” there are numerous YouTube videos on how to actually tie the pattern.

 

[a23fish]

I've fished egg patterns a lot over the past couple years, primarily because I'm a beginning - less than 3 years - fly fisher and because they work. Getting bites when starting out is important, even if they are stocked fish.

I began tying them last year because they're easy, also important for beginners. So far, my favorite patterns involve pale pink, yellow, and orange, or a combination of 2 of those. I tie them using GloBug yarn or McFly Foam on a #14 curved nymph hook with a bead head. Simple. There are numerous videos on how to do it and multiple methods shown, so just try a few of one method then another to see which you find easiest.

I most often rig them under an indicator, either a small hopper/Chubby Chernobyl imitation or simply a piece of yarn. Occasionally I'll fish them without the indicator if the water is fairly clear and shallow, just to see how fish react to different methods or colors. It helps to dunk them a few times before the first cast to ensure they sink on that first cast.

I also find smaller eggs work better, and will trim some of the foam in the hook gap if I got too exuberant in applying the yarn. No advice on the worms, I don't fish those very often. Maybe I should.

 

[Roofin' Trouter]

My most productive egg pattern the past few years has been tied on a size 14 jig hook, 3.3 light pink tungsten bead , red thread( hot spot), and pink Eggstacy yarn. I tie a few with pink Krystal Flash tailing and found they get a.few more when the water has some color.
The thing about egg patterns is that they want to stay high in the water so I go with oversize beads and fish a heavy slim anchor fly 12-18" below eggs to help tick bottom.

 

[tomgamber]

At one time I just bought the pre-made balls at the craft store and just impaled them with a hook and added a dot with a sharpie. Once I realized I'd need them for things like steelhead I started tying with glo-bug yarn and them Sucker spawn as well.

 

[DrownedFish]

I don't fish eggs often, but when I do I fish one of the unweighted varieties with a couple splitshot 2 to 3 inched above it. I'll then put a pheasant tail nymph on a tag above the splitshot.

 

[discomidge]

My eggs are about the same as Roofin Trouter's, tho I tie them as heavy as I possibly can so I can put one on point (and that's the one that normally gets me the most fish). My default is: #14 Fulling Mill FM5045 jig hook (because the wire is thick and I like FM barbless hooks), 3.3mm tungsten slotted bead in pink/copper or red, 9 or 10 .20 lead wraps, red thread, and peach eggstasy yarn. I tie them in other colors too (a dead egg florescent cheese and a silver bead is my #2 color combo), but peach is my fav. I also tie them with an exposed bead and a bead buried in the middle, though I'm not sure which is more productive. I'm also not sure that minor color variations matter at all. Eggs just work for me in the winter. February sucks, eggs make it suck a little less.

 

[Solitariolupo]

Couple glo bugs.