Home Forums Fishing Flyfishing Whats your Favorite Trout Fly?

Hey everybody, <BR>i see not too many people post here.. so heres something that might get it goin a little..whats ur favorite trout fly? What kind of waters do u like to fish the most (small streams, rivers, lakes, etc.. )and if u dont fish for trout what is your favorite fish to go after on a fly rod? hope this gets the bored going a little..<BR>YoungHunter

Hey everybody, i guess ill get this started..<BR>my favorite trout fly is the Muddler Minnow, and my favorite water to fish is small streams. i also want to get into fishin for bluegills on small ponds, and lakes.. well people lets get postin.. i could use some tips on good trout and bluegill flys..<BR>YoungHunter

Hey i hoped this was going to get a bunch of responses.. and maybe get this board goin a little but i guess not.. i tried though.<BR>YoungHunter

It would be hard to pin it down to just one fly but the elk hair caddis is right at the top on my list.I live within a half hour drive of one of the best trout rivers in North America the Bow River in Alberta,Canada.I Spent alot of my youth learning to flyfish on this river,but inthe last few years my new love is fishing from a float tube on small lakes in and around the area.I do enjoy all types of flyfishing dries,nymphs and streamers.I tie my own and find that almost as enjoyable as fishing them.

I usually use something small, and flashy. In the summer, out here in Kalifornia, the trout are all in the white water portions of the stream. So anything will work. I just bought two new rods from Cabelas. One is a 4 wt., 7.5 ft. graphite with No. 1 Cahill reel, and line, etc. This will back up/replace my well used Berkely 7.5 ft. glass, 6 wt. rod. The other rod is a graphite 8.5 ft. 6 wt. for those bigger streams, or lakes, that we have up here. For lakes, I like something meaty, like a No.4, or even a No. 2, Muddler, or a black Woolly Worm. Usually I troll this very slowly behind a sinking line. E

This is a good thread, YoungHunter. Thanks. Everyone has a favorite fly or two that just seem to get the job done for them most of the time. Their own personal "go to" patterns.<P>I've been doing a lot of driftboating on the South Fork of the Snake, the Madison and the Yellowstone the last two seasons (Yeah, I know - "Poor me!"). An elk hair caddis tied fairly heavy is a consistent producer on these waters. In small sizes, it passes for a mayfly, and doesn't have the flotation problems you can experience in big water with the traditional thread body and feather wing flies. In big sizes, bumped against the bank, it can pull the bank feeders looking to nail a hopper. <P>In the riffles and side channels, it's hard to beat a PMD most of the time. That's true on small waters, too. PMD hatches come off all season - they just get smaller as the season progresses. <P>For the all-around nymph I nominate...the hare's ear. It's the do-it-all nymph. <P>For tubing, I get a ton of mileage out of the maribou leech in assorted colors, including some that bear no resemblance to anything living. A pain to tie, but a producer. <P>I can and do use many other patterns - tying your own really sets you free - but this simple arsenal works for me most of the time.<P>Good post, YoungHunter. It's interesting to hear about what works for others in different parts of the country. <P>greggun <P> <P>

I think I've caught more fish on an olive colored bead head Hare's Ear nymph than anything else. I prefer to fish dry flies, but when the going get's tough, this is my go-to pattern whether I'm fishing lakes or streams. <P>I prefer small rivers/big streams for trout.

greggun<BR>thanks, i was just tryin to get this board goin cause this is only my second year fly fishing and i wanted some tips on flys that people have had success with..I also wanted to learn something from u guys that have been fly fishing for awhile.. <BR>YoungHunter..<BR>P.S. thanks for the input everybody<BR><p>[This message has been edited by YoungHunter (edited April 17, 2001).]

I use Little Woody and Tyrone uses Black Widow....LOL

I live in central Indiana and most of my fly fishing is done on small streams for smallmouth bass and ponds for bluegills and the like. For smallies, I lean torwards wolly buggers in various shapes and sizes, and for 'gills, it's real tough to beat rubber spiders. Not very sexy but most trout fishing standards but it always gets the job done. Actually, for bedding bluegills, I've had lots of luck with small bead-head hares' ear nymphs... I've actually started to try and tie a fly that WON'T catch a bluegill. For early spring fishing, I just use scraps of materials left over and come up with some pretty ugly flies but thay usually seem to work... My wife recently drew the line when she caught me clipping our puppies for dubbing! Perhaps I'll shave my back and use the hair to make some type of emerger!<p>[This message has been edited by Indy (edited April 23, 2001).]

My favorite fly isn't the one that chatchs the most fish. It's my favorite because it was born on my home waters and it was one of the first flies I mastered when I began tying. And, it's worked well everywhere in North America that I've tried it. It's the Pass Lake Dry Fly.

In north central PA, where I do most of my fly fishing, my favorite is a caddis larvae in any shade of green or yellow. The trout will take these at just about any time of the year. It is, I guess, my "go to" fly. Of course, it doesn't hurt that you could probably teach a blind monkey to tie one! Lets just say that that the folks at Orvis aren't beating down my door to photograph my patterns for their next catalog. <P>------------------<BR>Stush<p>[This message has been edited by Stush (edited June 21, 2001).]

Wooly Bugger and Adams Dry or Parachute. Hey I am going small-mouth hunting in a week. Have rod will travel... So--what really kills them smallies on a fly-rod..<BR>thanks<BR>Oh yeah and I fish here in nebraska not much to choose from, mainly flatwater and some really small streams....<BR>bones

I fish small streams for trout and lakes for bream.<P>my top dry flies: Royal wuff, irresisible adams, parachute adams<P>my top subsuface flies: wooly bugger, zug bug<P>The fly for bream: #12 black ant<P>J.R.

I fish mostly the big and small rivers here in Oregon- Deschutes, John Day, several of the coast streams and a couple of small streams around my property in Central Oregon. I haven't found a stream yet that the Golden ribbed hare's ear wouldn't catch something. I usually like to have them tied fairly heavy, since nymphs don't work well unless they are close to the bottom and some of these streams have some serious current. Most of my fishing is done close to the ripples and pocket water between the fast water. In the bigger streams, I usually use 5mm Neoprene waders, since these waters are amazingly cold in the spring when I fish most. In the smaller streams, I usually put on some old worn out tennis shoes and just wade around in the stream, usually working upstream and casting carefully to the small holes just below fast water or small ripples. Especially if one of these holes is under an overhanging bush or tree. <BR>My 9' Loomis 5 weight is a little unweildy in the smaller stream areas due to the brush. I'm getting ready to replace it with a 6 or 7 foot 3 or 4 weight for the small stream fishing, since most of the fish are of modest size anyway, usually 6-10 inches. - Sheister

My favorite is what ever is catching fish. I've been spoiled enough here in British Columbia that if they aren't biting dries on top then I usually don't bother. Nymphs are less fun to fish. I fish lakes, rarely any kind of stream. The "teawater" lakes full of bugs and moosey shore lines are fly fish heaven. The larger, crystal clear lakes sometimes work for flies but I usually do better fishing small salt water salmon jigs near the bottom with spinning gear in that kind of water.<P>To choose one fly I'd go with the Muddler Minnow. I fish it dry and I'm sure the fish think it is a grasshopper. Last summer on a lake in Alberta when the wind was blowing grasshoppers onto the water, I kept catching fish and gradually chewing up or losing flies for one reason or another until all I had left that looked like a grass hopper was a huge Muddler the size of a mouse tied on a 1/0 or 2/0 hook. Those big rainbows just clobbered it. <P>In Central BC for many years the Black Doc Spratly was the most popular fly for lakes. In mid to late summer, just after sundown on those central BC lakes, a BIG fly of almost any kind as long as it has a white white upper wing or white streamer on the top, is just deadly on really big rainbows. I don't have clue what they think it is. The best version I've used was a hair winged California Coachman, in a number 2 long shank hook.<P>For cutthroat, a friend tied at my request some Muddlers with an orange body. His name is Birchhill and we called it the Birchhill Muddler, or more correctly I was told, the Birchhilll Minnow. Cutthroats like orange.<P>I'd like to try bluegill on a fly sometime.

FOR A GENERAL ALL AROUND FLY I WILL ALSO GO FOR THE MUDDLER. IT GENERALY TAKES SOME LARGER TROUT AND THE TAKES CAN BE FIERCE! FOR THE GILLS I TIE SOMETHING THAT WOULD BE CALLED A BLACK HACKLED STARLING. IT IS A WET FLY TIED ON A MUSTAD 3906 IN SIZE #10. THE BODY IS BLACK WOOL WITH A RED WOOL TAG. HACKLE WITH 2-3 FULL TURNS OF STARLING FEATHER. IT IS AN EXTREMLY DURABLE AND EFFECTIVE PATTERN. LUCK!

Haven't seriously fished in a while. However, one fly always came through for me. I have caught Rainbows, Browns, Cutts, Largemouth Bass, Crappie, Bluegill, Pickeral, Walleye, and Channel Cats on it. It is sort of a dark olive marabou flashy bugger thing. I heavily weight it, give it a long marabou tail, dub some marabou on for the body, run a strand of flashabou down each side and out the tail, and then give it a grizzly hackle collar. I have made it from #10 to #4. I can dead drift it, fish it like a streamer, or strip it in--all methods seem to work with it. I tied this based on a pattern I saw a guy using in a pool of still water--he was catching lots of fish. When I asked him what he was using, he gave me the fly. I later dropped it in the river, so I tied what I thought I'd seen. Much later I found I didn't get it right according to what he was using. However, my "error" worked so well I have stuck with it.
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<br>Blaine

My "go to" patterns are as follows:
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<br>Moving water (streams and rivers) size 10-16 thorax adams with a flashback pheasant tail dropper
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<br>lakes and ponds: size 4-8 olive wooly booger with a bit of crystal flash, followed by a 10-14 prince nymph on some fairly quick sinking line.
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<br>These combos have caught me quite a few fish. I usually start wiht these and adjust as different bugs come off the water.

That would be a pink san juan, small, about #14 or #12 at the most. I live in N Georgia and I fish them behind a black / olive WB, or behind a rainbow BH prince nymph as a dropper. Chartruse works well too. BD