Favourite Flies?
With winter approaching, I like to get out the old vise and tie up as many as I think I'll need for the summer.
I would just like to get opinions on favourites flies of yours (preferrably for Trout only) and/or recipes.
Rant on!

Mac: Start tying up some Coho Blues/Rolled Muddlers, Muddler Minnows, Gloe bugs, get out the old 6 weight, dust 'er off and have some fun with the cutties. Ok, well if this isn't up your alley, my first suggestion would be Wooley Buggers, Pheasent Tail Nymphs, Leeches, and Chrinomids of various colours (thats if you're not into going out for Steelies/cutties over the winter).

leeches...i love leeches. try to come up with as many variations as u can. you'll find that many of them work. nothing better than getting a trout on a fly you designed yourself. wooly buggers are for people like scott who talk more than they fish.

My favorite flies for ranbow's are a sparkle olive green woolybugger that was shown to me by my buddy Dave,And a dragonfly nymph Tied with just dark green dubbing and pheasant tail for the leg's.
My favorite cutty flies are,Blue/Grenn streamer which was also shown to me by Dave,and a minnow pattern with silver body and White bucktail with a brown olive anglehair back.
Finaly my favorite coho flies are a Mickey Finn and a Green/Blue Christmas tree pattern.

SCUDS***SCUDS***SCUDS***SCUDS***SCUDS***SCUDS**
and maybe a leech and beadhead damsel nymph or two.

Hmmmmm,

For a Leech I don't like the wolly bugger. I prefer something with a bit more flow to it, using rabbit fur being first choice or marabou. I like to tie them from size 6 to 12 usually with a little bit of flashabou mixed in. I tie some with bead heads and/or weighted bodies depending on where and how deep I'm fishing. Damsels I love with a beadhead. I tie a dragon nymph with a brown, or black body with bead eyes, and pheasant tail usually with a silver or gold rib except @ lakes with visible shoals (Ie, white) I use a fluorescent green rib. The shape to this fly is key. Favorite wet fly has got to be the water boatmen, not because it's pretty or hard to tie, simply because of the fact that when they're coming off the fishin is unreal. The fish don't get all that picky, and the retrieve is really hands on, clost to the opposite of say choronomids.

beadhead burgundy mini leach.

Like Felix said,the Olive Green Sparkle Woolley Bugger(Gold/Olive sparkle chenille) with a gold beadhead, on certain lakes(well most) such as White(Salmon Arm) and Harper Lake near Chase, is a very consistent producer. I have fished that pattern on White Lake, when the Chironimid hatch is in full swing, and caught just as many or more fish than the most die hard chironimid fisherman. I also fish chironies as well, but I like casting to fish(sight fishing) and getting the hit on the retrieve, it's more exciting. Alf Davies(author of 'The Guilley') fishes beside me on the same marl patch and even he took notice.Coho, in the Stave and Nicomen Slough also hammer this pattern. For Cutthroat, in the spring, you can't beat an Epoxy Minnow. Dave.

I have to agree with Jesse and Kevin, I don't really care for Woolly Buggers either. At least not for trout fishing lakes.

I'd much rather try to mach the hatch. And I have never had a Woolly Bugger out perform a mini leech on a particular day.

Last year I started experimenting with angel hair, in many of my trout flies. I had used it for salmon flies before, but never for trout. The stuff just comes alive in the water. Now, I add a little angel hair to the tail of almost all my leech patterns.

Other than leeches, I'd also tie up some marabou damsels, pheasant tail nymphs, some scuds, a few boatman patterns, and of course chironomids in every size and color combination you can think of (well almost). I keep one side of one of my fly boxes dedicated to just chironomid pupa patterns. I'd probably also tie a couple Tom Thumbs and Dragonfly patterns. Although, I must admit, I don't fish dragonfly nymphs very much.

anyone got a killer scud pattern?
how about sedge pupas? i find a 52 buick works just as well as the more complicated sedge pupa patterns.
jesse, why florescent green rib dragonfly nymphs for shallow shoals? just curious. i totally agree about the shape being of most importance for dragon nymphs.

Really depends on where I'm fishing in B.C. or Alberta Marc!

What area are you asking about? Are you fishing stillwaters or moving waters?

May be I zipped through the posts a little too fast but doesn't anyone fish with dry flies :^)

For sedge pupas I use the Dennet. It has a green/brown body (depending on the lake), with a rib and the that blue phase pheasant rump that goes all around at the head (kind of like those carey specials). I know some guys that pick this fly out of their box before they even check anything out. It's awesome! I use the fluorescent green rib, because at lakes with visible shoals the dragonflys tend to have that color between each sort of section between the body. Roll over a rock the next time your at on of these kinds of lakes and you'll know what I'm talking about. Yeah, Dry flies, well I pretty much use the standard versions(tom thumbs, tri wings, humpys, adams etc.,), however on moving waters I use the goddard sedge for it's ability to float. Anyone have any good hopper patterns? I usually just tie up some stimulators with a bit of a spun deer hair head, and I use longer hackle. Works, ok but I've seen some really neat ones in magazines. Whether they work or not I don't know. Oh, and same with fly ant patterns, anyone have anything special? I just tie a foam body, with a hackle, just basic. I know someone's gotta have a killer pattern for this.

Scott,
I wasn't asking about anything in particular...just curious about "favourite" flies of anybody out there and maybe a few recipes. About 70% of MY flyfishing is done on top with either Tom Thumbs or Caddis variations. Whenever I use a wet fly, it's usually Spratley, Leech or (more recently) Chironomid types.
My newest favourite dry fly is the Bodiless Caddis...I can expand on that if you wish. Excellent fly - easy to tie, floats like a cork, and catches lots of rising trout!
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Well, I think I made reference to this on another post in some other discussion, but I'll reiterate:
The bodiless caddis is just that; a caddis pattern without a body! Simply tie a clump of deer hair on a bare hook, trim the head at an angle and that's it! It is similar to any other caddis pattern except that it has no underbody, no dubbing, no floss...nada!
I will add a wrap of thread along the shank of the hook just to keep the deer hair from spinning, but basically...that's the pattern!
The beauty of this one is that it floats very well, always upright! When it gets water logged (and they always do) a few false casts tosses out all the water and you're back in business! They're not very resilient though, they will fall apart usually after 1 maybe 2 fish...but since you can tie a dozen in less than 10 minutes, who cares, right?
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Hmmm.....where are the Chronomids??
Surely Im not the only chrono guy here? Definately my favourite fly is the Chronomid. I tie it in so many variations that hard to choose my favourite. Always the one that works the best at the time is my favourite. But basics colours, black, red, brown, green, and combinations of each is what I tie.
I tie mainly bead head, tapered sno-cone style.
Has anyone tried cutting the plastic bags, that computer chips come in, into thin strips and using that as a body material? Works really good in some conditions.
If I have to fish something else (not very often anymore)My Favourite is the Kaufman Mini leetch. It is a Burgandy color, and seems to work at anytime of year.

Well, in defence of the'lowly' Woolley Bugger, I was out fishing a local river today.(and yesterday)I was targetting Coho and I had my usual arsenal of Coho flies, Mickey Finn, Blue/Green Bucktail Streamer,Rolled Muddlers, and the Olive Green Sparkle Woolley Bugger. All the flies were put to the test in pretty much the same order as they appear in the list.1)Mickey Finn: 4 Coho Jacks,2) Blue/Green Bucktail Streamer: one 8lbs. Coho,3)Rolled Muddler: 0, 4)Olive Sparkle Bugger:one Coho Jack, three adult Coho 5-8lbs., two Cutthroat(15in and 3 lbs respectively), 5) one 'nickel bright' Chum(doe) and many more missed hits or lost fish. I'd say that it was definitely the top producer (for me)on those two days.(Nov. 7-8)I'm not one of those fisherman who only fishes Woolley Buggers ( because he can't fish anything else) but, they are effective for not only trout but Salmon too. Dave.

not sure what you mean there Carl. 5 people above mentioned chironomids.

ok...let's talk chironomids. does a pheasant tail shellback at the head make a difference? i only tie plain herl heads but often wonder if it is worth the trouble to tie in a shellback

oops...i meant wingcase...

The chironimids I tie are with a clearish white glass bead like a killer Caddis I use floss for the body and tie variations with a red or green but on them and finish it off with a peacock herl collar. Very simple and quick to tie. How do you tie an acetate chronimid ive heard of it but never seen it before.

Mike....No one above listed Chironomids as "favourite" fly, thats what I meant.
Kevin I never tie the shellback, I dont think you need it, and if your tying the emerging icecream cone style it throws off the taper, and in fact fishes worse in my experiance.
Travis, an acetate Chirono is simply an acetate floss body dipped in acetone after tying and it glazes over to almost an epoxy looking finish. I use it a lot now as I find it extremely durable and will take many many hits. You can get pretty creative with the acetate and get some real neat effects as it melds together. For some cool effect try wrapping a white acetate over one of your regular tied colors. If you leave it in the right amount of time it will become translucent and give it a new appearance. The only problem with acetate floss is the limited colors its available in. But the basic greens, blacks, browns, reds are all available. The color will change after dipping.

Hey Mac, where are you saving the time with that hair wing only Caddis – stacking, sorting and picking out the under fur is the most time consuming aspect of a hair winged Caddis.

I tie a simple no hackle Caddis; using Phentex yarn with an Elk or Deer hair wing for the larger traveling sedges or a dubbing of CDC for the typical Caddis when I want a higher profile that’s imitating a spent adult. But that’s for the one stage of the Caddis. Adding a body to your Caddis takes very little time and will be more productive – especially on still waters.

On rivers, especially around riffles, you may as well be using a wooly bugger if you are lacking a good stiff hackle. Not that there is anything wrong with that but if you are looking for the excitement that dry fly fishing offers (visual) then it’s pretty pointless tossing out a fly that drowns quickly.

A lot of us use too much material when tying (I’m guilty) but I fail to see the advantage of going as sparse as you like to.

To help you speed up your hair winged flies: to prevent your hair from spinning when tying a clump of hair on to the hook, first put a few light wraps around the hair “before” tying it around the shank of the hook. Then gradually add pressure to each wrap around the shank. Those first few wraps that are strickly around the hair will keep it sitting on top of the shank.

Scott,

Have you ever tied a Goddard Sedge. Floats like a bobber!!! It's sort of like a gomphus, (the spun deer hair idea) clipped and trimmed for shape and tail, then hackle and a strip of yarn down the belly depending on the coulor of what's hatching and presto, a fly that hard to drown and has never let me down.

Jesse,
Yes, I like the Goddard caddis too, but it takes quite a while to tie! Not that time has ever stopped me from tying a good fly, though ;)

Scott,
As I said, I can make about a dozen in 10 or 15 minutes. By NOT using any underbody, these things are very bouyant and resist absorbing water so they tend to stay afloat longer. Sometimes, I might throw in a wrap or two of floss just as an attractor, but more often than not, these babies are dynamite on rising trout when fishing a weedbed at dusk! Your idea about looping the thread around the hair is a good one, I use that technique...just forgot to mention it!
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