Goodness, I know little. Just hoping for some ideas to get started. Thought about buying an assortment, but, might be better of with known performers, ehh?

West central Montana. I am looking to fish smaller waters, not the mainstems at least, afoot targeting pan size trout, C&R. I'll be trying out a couple new (budget) rigs, one 8'4" #3 with WF3F and one 9' #4 with WF4F. Yet to buy leaders and tippet too. Never used a tapered leader and looking forward to it.



Maybe a few that mimic terrestrials? A few nymphs? I have tiny amounts of experience with dry flies only. Any exceptionally versatile flies to absolutely have?

Truly - it is appreciated.

I tend to use smaller flies than most because fish see a lot of pressure and flies.

purple haze size 14 to 18.

Lightning bug 16 to 20

orange stimulators 14 to 16

Griffiths gnat 16 to 18

Pats stone fly 12 to 14

prince nymphs 16 to 18

size 14 elk hair or Goddard caddis. I prefer Goddard pattern

size 16 to 18 comparaduns for the finicky fish

pink San Juan worms 14 to 16

can throw in a few hopper patterns too, chernobyls

sparkle minnow pattern too

soft hackles in 16 to 18 aren't bad

can add a small dropper nymph like a lightning bug on the larger dry flies. 18 inches of dropper tippet


Buy a 9 foot 5x and 6x leaders. Cut off the last 2 feet add 2 to 3 feet of flouro tippet. 4x to 6x tippet as needed for dry flies

I cut off the last 3 feet for a nymph rig 9 foot 5 x leader, add tippet.

most use a thingamabobbers as indicators. I like small piece of Antron dressed with floatant.

what month?

I have a lot of flies bought over the last 40 years.. But the ones I use most are prince nymph, gold ribbed hares ear, (mostly bead head), grey hackle peacock, royal coachman, elk hair caddis.. Those with a few wooly buggers are the ones I use 90 percent of the time.. If I am fishing waters I am not familiar with, I stopped in a fly shop and buy a dozen of those they recommend...

Don’t forget the Chubby Chernobyl’s,

Thanks guys. Sixteen doz on the way. Hopefully that's not excessive. Seems about standard. I'm going to try some of those Thingamabobbers too.

Ribka, I've supposedly lived here three years, though I work, so far it seems, on the road. Got a hankering to stream fish a few places I've seen outside of the Gold Medal country. Could be April - November. My prior fly, err fishing, experience has been pretty rudimentary and I've always wanted to try some lighter fly gear... So, I am treating myself a bit.


Again, many thanks for the tips and recommendations to ya'll.

Boomer, the 3 Wgt will be fun, but a 4 Wgt 9’ rig is much more useful. Especially if it’s windy.

I think you’ll have better luck with the smaller sized flies sized 16 to 24 on a 9’ 5x leaders.

And you got some great advice from Ribka.

Just be warned..... It’s addicting! 🤠

I nearly always begin a session with Gold Ribbed Hare's Ears. A variety of sizes from maybe 6 to 16.

Sierra trading post is good place to get discount flies but site is down

try this too

https://www.mrfc.com/collections/fly-sale

Great folks and can call get advice

Yah, STP doesn't want their servers to get the chinky virus.


My Madison River neighbors just got an order, thanks for the head's up. I'm a sucker for $0.44 flies apparently!

Good info here. I've caught more fish on olive gold rib hares ears and elk hair caddis variations than anything else. But I am a generalist, not a purist by any means. That means I fish a ton of different ways mediocrely.

WHERE ??? 🤠

Tag

For small streams I have had Grey Hackle Yellow work when nothing else would. If you can find some they would be worth a try.

+1

Have also found 14-16 Renegades and 14-20 parachute Adams to be useful.

I'm not a fish but some of these looked pretty tasty. After a point, the $0.49s dropped to $0,44 in my cart so I just kept going to get free shipping at $50. LOL
https://www.mrfc.com/collections/fly-sale

Adams are always worth having on hand for sure.

Blue winged Olive's Will start soon.

Scud's and Midge's are working now.

March Browns, Skwala here in the Bitterroot.

Fine folks at Madison Rivers Fishing Company (mffc) have always great sales during off season like now. They are in downtown Ennis but customer service over the phone works too.

Speaking of Madison River Fishing Company, they're offering free shipping, no minimum, until April 30 to help out in troubled times while shuttered through April 10.

Don't forget to have a few Kaufmann's bead head stonefly nymphs with rubber legs in your box. Brown and black.

Stopped by a nondescript roadside spring creek in WY after punching an elk tag and had a quiet sit and watch for about 10 minutes. No risers but did see a good number of stonefly shucks laying about. Turned over a few rocks and found the original hosts. Tied on said Kaufmann's under an indicator and let it slide along the rip-rap seam. Didn't go far before I had the pleasure of introducing myself to a plump 14" local. Several more followed suit on that stretch. Fond memories....

Lightning bugs as a dropper are money too. Had the pleasure of fishing the Yakima with Larry Graham a handful of times before he lost his race with cancer. He developed that fly and it served both of us well. He had a few tricks to it that are typically not in the commercially tied variety. Gave one of Larry's originals to an ArkAngler's guide after bringing dozens to hand with my own copy and he kept trying to get a good look at the dropper I'd tied on. Told him about Larry and to give credit in accord.

Let us know how you do 'Boomer.

Carl,

For the small-stream, relatively unpressured "pan" trout you're after, the selection Wycoyotehunter suggested pretty much covers it. I would add, however, a relatively small grasshopper fly for late summer. When I had time to tie my own I liked the Pheasant Hopper (partly because I always had a lot of pheasant feathers), but anything in about the #4-6 range will work at that time of year.

Thanks John.

Mtnboomer
Can't argue with any of the flies suggested … however you might want to take a gander at Caylorscustomflies.com . I've purchased flies from him in the past and he ties all the attractors , nymph, streamers you'd need for Big Sky FFing- plus they're tied here in the USofA and he can custom tie whatever else you might want . I live near Bozeman and avoid crowded places like the Madison , mostly fishing smaller freestones - and depending on when you come out here don't forget about the backcountry lakes they can be very good in the spring when creek/rivers are blown out . My personal fav's for creeks and such : Royal-basically any of the Trude style flies- size ten when the water's up, 16's later, they make a good caddis imitation in smaller sizes AND they can be swung downstream like a wet fly- especially when there are Brookies around . 'nother fly you might try is called the Purple Haze - basically a violet shade of a Parachute Adams works well especially towards evening when light gets dimmer . Stimulators, Elk hair caddis, House and Lot Turcks Tarantula- good one when the water is rough . Good luck and tight lines-
Tortoise