Newbie Question: How many fly sizes & colors to tie for next season?

In article ,
"Wolfgang" wrote:

The bad news:

There is no good answer to your question without knowing where, when, and
for what you intend to fish. Even with that information there are so many
variables that necessary qualifications would make an answer horrendously
complex and of little worth. For example, your selection would depend in
part on whether you intend to fish dry flies and/or wets, nymphs, streamers,
terrestrials, etc. Are you interested in matching hatches more or less
precisely? Are widely popular favorites suitably effective in your area?
Or are there local patterns that the fish tend to favor? How important is
catching versus fishing? What size fish will you be pursuing? The list of
considerations goes on literally forever.

The good news:

It doesn't really matter all that much. A season of two of practice and
advice from those who fish frequently where you do will provide you with all
the information you'll need.

Meanwhile, any information you get here will probably be worth taking
seriously, but if ROFF responds true to form, you'll get so much varied and
contradictory advice that sorting it all out will be a lot more trouble and
work than figuring it out for yourself. Either way, good luck.

Wolfgang

the even better news:
Some fisherman just say phoeey to the whole match the hatch business and
only use two flies, a size 16 adams and a size 12 prince nymph. And
they do well too.

On Oct 11, 2:31 pm, Dave LaCourse wrote:
On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:37:56 -0000, mdk77
wrote:



As some of you already know, this is my first season of fly fishing.
I tie my own flies so I'm beginning to put together a list of flies to
tie over the winter, for next season. So far I have a list of 25
patterns that I'd like to fish next year. This is a lot compared with
what I tied for my first season this year (I had about 10 patterns
that a local fisherman recommended for my area, and they were very
effective for me). For this past season, I tied roughly two sizes and
two colors of most of these patterns, and tried to tie 6-12 of each
variation.

I realize this is a general question and that patterns may vary the
answer - but - in general, how many sizes of a given pattern should I
tie? An example would be an adult midge pattern in sizes 20-28 or a
given nymph in sizes 16 to 28 -- how many sizes would be adequate to
populate my boxes for the season? I did the math and about stroked
out at the number of flies I would have to tie to do ALL of the sizes
for ALL of the 25 flies. Especially since I am a slow tier at this
point in my experience .... I think I'd die of old age before I got em
all tied :-)

Thanks in advance for any help that you can give me on this.

- Dave K.

If you give patterns, it would be easier to help you. Lets say you
are tying a Pheasant Tail nymph: I would tie sizes 16, 18, and 20.
Hares Ear? 14, 16, 18
Elk Hair Caddis (dry)? 14, 16, 18 (Two colors?)
Wooly Bugger? 6, 8, 10 (Three colors?)
Grey Ghost? 2, 4, 6
Midge (buzzer)? 20, 22, 24

I would initially tie a dozen of each size, enough to populate any fly
box. Do you have a recipe book? If so, it should tell you what size
a particular pattern should be.

Give us some patterns and types of flies (nymph/dry/midge/streamer).
List the 25.

Dave

Thanks Dave. Here are some patterns that I am considering tying over
the Winter. Because I live in Central Illinois (no trout locally), I
fish mostly for panfish and bass (largemouth and smallmouth), but I do
fish for trout during the summer while on vacation. Next summer I am
planning on a long trip to Taneycomo for brown and rainbow trout.
I'll also try some night fishing there, in addition to daytime. I'm
told that the trout there can be quite large (well over 10
pounds......to me that would be a monster fish). Here's my wish
list. I'm open for any suggestions regarding additions or deletions:
Bunny Leech,
Pine Squirrel,
Slump Buster,
Dave's Hopper terrestrial,
Scud,
Sow Bug,
Midge Pupa,
Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear,
Pheasant Tail,
Elk Hair Caddis,
Adams Dry Fly,
Adult midge pattern,
Crackleback,
Soft Hackle,
San Juan Worm,
Wooly Bugger,
Wooly Worm,
Gurgler,
Spider terrestrial,
Jim's Streamer (local Maribou streamer),
Brassie,
Sculpin,
Clouser,
Zonker,
Mudler.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

I should have added that Taneycomo is in Missouri, not far from
Northern Arkansas. I could fish some of the other trout streams in
that area too.

Julie wrote:
In article .com,
mdk77 wrote:


Hi, I am just a dumb gurl, but why dont you look under rocks and see
what the bugs look like? What size are the caddis larva? Are they tan
or olive? If they are olive it would probably be better to be fishing
olive caddis dries and nymphs than tan
And during a hatch make sure you catch a couple of flies. Dont be all
big egoed on us, if you look like a butterfly catcher in the middle of
the river it is no big deal. Are the flies size 20 with olive bodies
and instead of fluttering they behave like helicopters? If they are
probably tie a bunch of small blue wing olive. Are they similiar but
bigger and with a orangish color? Might be a pale morning or pale
evening dun.


I think Julie gives some good advice here. I think, partly because I
don't get to fish as often as I would like, I tend to get rushed when I
fish. I can't wait to start flailing the water. Lately, when I do go
fishing, I have been concentrating on slowing down and enjoying things
around me more. I don't even line my rod until I'm at the water, have
turned over a few rocks and just observed for a bit. I don't know if it
has helped me catch more fish but I know I have enjoyed the fishing more.

Now, if I turn over a rock and or catch a fly off the water and
determine that the fish are probably feeding on little bitty things and
I should probably be tying on a #20 PMD, I tie on a #12 Royal Trude and
hope it ****es them off enough that they will hit it.

Russell

mdk77 wrote:

I learned my lesson. I will NEVER again let myself get down to the last
fly of a given pattern and size. Never.


um...well...let me simply suggest "never" occurs with a stunning
frequency for an awful lot of trout fishing folk.... hell, i've seen it
up close several times just in the last few months. i bet it will occur
with you to some degree even though you have a heightened sense of the
"nevermore". but...it does inspire "perhaps", which i kinda like.

jeff

Wolfgang wrote:

"mdk77" wrote in message


I will NEVER again let myself get down to the last
fly of a given pattern and size. Never.


Heh, heh, heh.

Wolfgang



i thought i heard your chuckle... "pure devilment", quoth the craven...

g

jeff

On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 21:31:01 -0000, mdk77
wrote:

Bunny Leech,
Pine Squirrel,
Slump Buster,
Dave's Hopper terrestrial,
Scud,
Sow Bug,

Never fish the above.

Midge Pupa,

Could be anything from a 12 to a 28. I prefer something in the 20 to
24 range.

Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear,

Size 12 to 18 in both tan (original) and olive.

Pheasant Tail,

My favorite go to nymph: I prefer 'em small 18 - 24, with and w/o
weight.

Elk Hair Caddis,

Anything from a 12 to 18, concentrate on 14 and 16, however. Tie both
tan and green. Maybe even in black.

Adams Dry Fly,

Old stand-by: I tie it as a parachute from 14 to 18.

Adult midge pattern,

My favorite midge pattern is nothing more than brown (or black) thread
for a body with tiny gold (or black) ribbing, a tuft of cream antron
cut *very* short for gills, peacock herl head. Tied in 18 - 22.


Crackleback,
???
Soft Hackle,

Soft hackle: I tie a solft hackle Pheasant Tail that is a killer.
Size 14 -18. Experiment with different colors/ribbing/head

San Juan Worm,

Never tied one. I've bought them to actually fish the San Juan, and
they worked well (gaudy orange).


Wooly Bugger,

I don't tie buggers (or fish 'em either), but something in black,
green and olive size 4, 6, 8 should suffice.

Wooly Worm,

See Wooly Bugger, but smaller sizes.

Gurgler,
Spider terrestrial,
Jim's Streamer (local Maribou streamer),

Never fish them.

Brassie,

Great all around nymph, expecially for caddis. Try tying in different
colors if you can find the colored wire - copper, gold, green, red,
black. Size 16, 18, 20

Sculpin,
Clouser,
Zonker,

I don't fish them.

Don't be afraid to experiment with your ties. I once saw a parachute
pheasant tail nymph (dry), and tied a hares ear with a parachute.
Worked wonderfully as does the PT parachute. You can put soft hackle
on just about any nymph to make it a different and unique fly. I've
been very successful that past couple of years with a variety of soft
hackle nymphs - yellow, orange, green, brown.

Good luck. Hope ya have a rotary vice. d;o)

Dave

On Oct 11, 5:18 pm, Dave LaCourse wrote:
On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 21:31:01 -0000, mdk77
wrote:

Bunny Leech,
Pine Squirrel,
Slump Buster,
Dave's Hopper terrestrial,
Scud,
Sow Bug,

Never fish the above.

Midge Pupa,

Could be anything from a 12 to a 28. I prefer something in the 20 to
24 range.

Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear,

Size 12 to 18 in both tan (original) and olive.

Pheasant Tail,

My favorite go to nymph: I prefer 'em small 18 - 24, with and w/o
weight.

Elk Hair Caddis,

Anything from a 12 to 18, concentrate on 14 and 16, however. Tie both
tan and green. Maybe even in black.

Adams Dry Fly,

Old stand-by: I tie it as a parachute from 14 to 18.

Adult midge pattern,

My favorite midge pattern is nothing more than brown (or black) thread
for a body with tiny gold (or black) ribbing, a tuft of cream antron
cut *very* short for gills, peacock herl head. Tied in 18 - 22.



Crackleback,
???
Soft Hackle,

Soft hackle: I tie a solft hackle Pheasant Tail that is a killer.
Size 14 -18. Experiment with different colors/ribbing/head

San Juan Worm,

Never tied one. I've bought them to actually fish the San Juan, and
they worked well (gaudy orange).

Wooly Bugger,

I don't tie buggers (or fish 'em either), but something in black,
green and olive size 4, 6, 8 should suffice.

Wooly Worm,

See Wooly Bugger, but smaller sizes.

Gurgler,
Spider terrestrial,
Jim's Streamer (local Maribou streamer),

Never fish them.

Brassie,

Great all around nymph, expecially for caddis. Try tying in different
colors if you can find the colored wire - copper, gold, green, red,
black. Size 16, 18, 20

Sculpin,
Clouser,
Zonker,

I don't fish them.

Don't be afraid to experiment with your ties. I once saw a parachute
pheasant tail nymph (dry), and tied a hares ear with a parachute.
Worked wonderfully as does the PT parachute. You can put soft hackle
on just about any nymph to make it a different and unique fly. I've
been very successful that past couple of years with a variety of soft
hackle nymphs - yellow, orange, green, brown.

Good luck. Hope ya have a rotary vice. d;o)

Dave

Dave, thank you VERY much for the help. I really appreciate it.

- Dave K.

On Oct 11, 4:08 pm, Julie wrote:
In article .com,

mdk77 wrote:
Thanks Tim. I live in an area where there aren't too many fly fishing
mentors. I have one though. It's definitely "Death Valley" for
resources locally. But hey, I did catch a lot of fish this season by
simply tying the 2 sizes of most of my fly patterns. It was probably
"beginner's luck" all the way. Maybe I'll just branch out and add a
size or two more (the small, medium and large seems like a good "next
step") and just see how I do fishing. I did fish a ton this season,
and am still fishing a lot. So maybe this trial and error thing will
work for me.

Hi, I am just a dumb gurl, but why dont you look under rocks and see
what the bugs look like? What size are the caddis larva? Are they tan
or olive? If they are olive it would probably be better to be fishing
olive caddis dries and nymphs than tan
And during a hatch make sure you catch a couple of flies. Dont be all
big egoed on us, if you look like a butterfly catcher in the middle of
the river it is no big deal. Are the flies size 20 with olive bodies
and instead of fluttering they behave like helicopters? If they are
probably tie a bunch of small blue wing olive. Are they similiar but
bigger and with a orangish color? Might be a pale morning or pale
evening dun.

Thank you Julie, I appreciate the advice. I will definitely do this,
and don't mind if I'm mistaken for a butterfly catcher :-)

- Dave K.

On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 22:49:58 -0000, mdk77
wrote:

Dave, thank you VERY much for the help. I really appreciate it.

You're welcome.

One other thing: Don't worry too much if your fly doesn't look
perfect. I found my all time "lucky fly" in the jaw of a 22 inch
landlocked salmon. Over a period of about two years, I used that fly
on and off. It always caught fish. I don't know what it was supposed
to look like new, because when I removed it from the fish's jaw, it
was already torn up. It just got worse every time I used it until it
was finally little more than a little bit of golden brown dubbing on a
size 16 scud hook (after lots of repairs). I finally lost it. I
tried unsuccessfully to copy it. I can not imagine what the fish saw
in it, but it did work.

Dave