I find dry flies most enjoyable but the past 6 or 7 yrs nymph fishing has been most effective and is what I end up doing 90% of my fishing time. No way am I driving 2+ hours to sit on the bank and wait for a hatch that may never come. The nymphs are down there and the fish are eating them.
Dry - BWO
nymph - Walt's worm or cress bug for wild fish, mop for stockers
Swing - hares ear soft hackle
Streamer - don't usually fish these but like a red/white marabou with silver body.
(Wow. For some reason, after typing #2, it makes me blush/takes me back to 7th grade 😊)
I voted based on catch rate. To be honest, I hate nymphing. But, I catch the most trout doing it. If she won't take it on top, you better go with what she wants, ya know? 🤷🏻♂️
Nymphing for trout-no matter how you do it-to me, is akin to jigging for walleye. LOL
1. Dry fly - Parachute Hares Ear
2. Nymph - Hares ear
3. Swing - Partridge and orange
4. Streamer - Pine Squirrel streamer. I don’t fish streamers like ever, but I carry these because they are easy to tie....and you never know when you NEED one.
1) Sulphur cut wing from Steve at FFP
2) GRHE or Pheasant Tail
3) Picket Pin, it just works and it's a PA fly
4) Clouser Foxee Minnow - it's live bait fishing without the Duty's Minnow sewn on minnow rig!
1. Dry fly - #14 Royal Wulff
2. Nymph - #16 pheasant tail with some hen hackling.
3. Swing - Same as above because only the uncouth weight their flies.
4. Streamer - I used to own a woolly bugger. it was green.
As with nearly every question about what flies or fly pattern works best for an individual angler, the choices are all over the place. This confirms, the fly pattern really doesn't matter much most times, it's more about the technique / skill of the angler. Hence Mo's bumper sticker "It's not the fly.....you suck!" 🙂
... and confidence in the fly. The most important thing about the fly itself is that you believe it will work. Then you will fish it and, if you don't suck, it will catch fish.
As with nearly every question about what flies or fly pattern works best for an individual angler, the choices are all over the place. This confirms, the fly pattern really doesn't matter much most times, it's more about the technique / skill of the angler. Hence Mo's bumper sticker "It's not the fly.....you suck!" 🙂
All these choices depend on the day, but here goes.
1. Dry: Light Cahill Parachute
2. Nymph: Blow Torch (my hot nymph this year)
3. Swing: Pass Lake wet fly
4. Streamer: Wooly bugger
