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

"Julie" wrote in message
...

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.


You also might want to keep this in mind when selecting flies to use.
In order:
1. First think size
2. Then pattern
3. Then color
-tom

In article , Tom Nakashima
wrote:


You also might want to keep this in mind when selecting flies to use.
In order:
1. First think size
2. Then pattern
3. Then color
-tom

I think that this, like most of the things I've read on this thread, is
very good advice.

My suspicion is that, after going through the process that Wolfgang
described (I wouldn't try to avoid this - I think it's inevitable) that
you will end up with something around a dozen flies. Maybe six or eight
that you tend to pick first, and another six or eight that you have
with you because you know that sooner or later you're going to need
them.

From time to time, though, you'll call on all that knowledge you gained
when learning to tie flies, and think of the possibility that what you
really need is something that you once knew about, and even used to
fish with, and it did qute well at the time.

You can only be happy with those dozen when you know you have lots of
possibilities to fall back on.

And the only way to find out what those dozen are is the long process
of trying them out for yourself.

This is the fun of the thing

Lazarus

mdk77 typed:
snip
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.

There are a few places you could go that might help. One would be a local
fly shop where someone could steer you in the right direction. Another would
be one of the conservation/fly fishing groups that may meet in your area.
Personally, I tie about three sizes of most of my flies - small, medium, and
large. Of course, exactly *what* size that is depends on the pattern.
Personal experience is probably the best teacher, unless you have someone
like George Adams handy; then you just look in his fly box and copy it. ;-)
--
TL,
Tim
-------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj

On Oct 11, 10:44 am, "Tim J."
wrote:
mdk77 typed:
snip

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.

There are a few places you could go that might help. One would be a local
fly shop where someone could steer you in the right direction. Another would
be one of the conservation/fly fishing groups that may meet in your area.
Personally, I tie about three sizes of most of my flies - small, medium, and
large. Of course, exactly *what* size that is depends on the pattern.
Personal experience is probably the best teacher, unless you have someone
like George Adams handy; then you just look in his fly box and copy it. ;-)
--
TL,
Tim
-------------------------http://css.sbcma.com/timj

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.

Thanks again.
- Dave

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.

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

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 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.

The answer is either 42....or 2.

/daytripper (I'd go with 2 - but that's me ;-)

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

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.