Simplest flies

I have a FlyFishing mag from England that talks about 'minimal flies', and
the most minimal successful fly it offers is a red circle hook. That's it!
They say it works really well, as it replicates a larva of something or
other that trout eat, and the author says he has had good success with it.
They say you can paint a circle hook red, or even simpler, just buy a red
hook.

The next minimal fly was a regular wetfly hook with a brass bead. That was
it! They said that it represented some other critter who rose to the surface
in a little air bubble, or possibly it looked to the fish like a piece of
roe. But the author said that both worked well to catch trout.

Anyone ever made serious use of 'minimalist' flies like these? Puts a whole
new spin on tying your own flies!

--riverman

In riverman wrote:
I have a FlyFishing mag from England that talks about 'minimal
flies', and the most minimal successful fly it offers is a red
circle hook. That's it! They say it works really well, as it
replicates a larva of something or other that trout eat...

Bloodworm/Chironomid/Midge larva. You can do the pupa
by tying a couple wraps of peacock herl at the head, and a
tuft of antron or similar for gills. Black bead would also
work as a head/thorax, and CDC instead of antron would give
you an emerger (with the thorax black thread over the butts
of the CDC plume).

Plain green hook, if you could get such, would be an
approximation of some caddis larvae like GRWs. Plain silver
and gold hooks have been known to take fish on their own, too
(especially gold). These would be *real* impressionistic
imitations of midge pupae that don't have the hemoglobin.

Todd (remove hook to reply)

I have never got into minimalism to that degree but am remnded of the
reading about the exploits of the late Oliver Kite who caught chalkstream
fish feeding on emergers using just the induced take method and a bare hook.
He was extolling the theory, which he felt he proved and it's hard to argue
with, that the movement of the natural was more important in that situation
than the appearance.

Clark



"riverman" wrote in message
...
I have a FlyFishing mag from England that talks about 'minimal flies', and
the most minimal successful fly it offers is a red circle hook. That's it!
They say it works really well, as it replicates a larva of something or
other that trout eat, and the author says he has had good success with it.
They say you can paint a circle hook red, or even simpler, just buy a red
hook.

The next minimal fly was a regular wetfly hook with a brass bead. That was
it! They said that it represented some other critter who rose to the
surface
in a little air bubble, or possibly it looked to the fish like a piece of
roe. But the author said that both worked well to catch trout.

Anyone ever made serious use of 'minimalist' flies like these? Puts a
whole
new spin on tying your own flies!

--riverman

The simplest fly that I use is called a "Green Weenie" and is just some green
chenille on a hook.

Big Dale

The simplest fly that I use is called a "Green Weenie" and is just some green
chenille on a hook.

Big Dale

riverman writes:

Anyone ever made serious use of 'minimalist' flies like these? Puts a whole
new spin on tying your own flies!

All the time, thanks to Bruiser. He gave me several tiny flies at the first
San Juan Clave and they work wonders. They are nothing more than a thread
body, wire or thread rib, and a thread head either of the same or different
thread. They are tied on 18 - 24 hooks and have caught some very big brookies
and land locked salmon. It takes less than three minutes for even me to tie.
Dave

http://hometown.aol.com/davplac/myhomepage/index.html

riverman writes:

Anyone ever made serious use of 'minimalist' flies like these? Puts a whole
new spin on tying your own flies!

All the time, thanks to Bruiser. He gave me several tiny flies at the first
San Juan Clave and they work wonders. They are nothing more than a thread
body, wire or thread rib, and a thread head either of the same or different
thread. They are tied on 18 - 24 hooks and have caught some very big brookies
and land locked salmon. It takes less than three minutes for even me to tie.
Dave

http://hometown.aol.com/davplac/myhomepage/index.html

"riverman" wrote in message
...
I have a FlyFishing mag from England that talks about 'minimal flies', and
the most minimal successful fly it offers is a red circle hook. That's it!
They say it works really well, as it replicates a larva of something or
other that trout eat, and the author says he has had good success with it.
They say you can paint a circle hook red, or even simpler, just buy a red
hook.

The next minimal fly was a regular wetfly hook with a brass bead. That was
it! They said that it represented some other critter who rose to the
surface
in a little air bubble, or possibly it looked to the fish like a piece of
roe. But the author said that both worked well to catch trout.

Anyone ever made serious use of 'minimalist' flies like these? Puts a
whole
new spin on tying your own flies!

--riverman


Hot glue eggs. A drop of glue on a hook, turned until the glue forms a nice
little ball on the hook, and dipped in water to set. Perfect imitation of
trout and or salmon eggs.

"riverman" wrote in message
...
I have a FlyFishing mag from England that talks about 'minimal flies', and
the most minimal successful fly it offers is a red circle hook. That's it!
They say it works really well, as it replicates a larva of something or
other that trout eat, and the author says he has had good success with it.
They say you can paint a circle hook red, or even simpler, just buy a red
hook.

The next minimal fly was a regular wetfly hook with a brass bead. That was
it! They said that it represented some other critter who rose to the
surface
in a little air bubble, or possibly it looked to the fish like a piece of
roe. But the author said that both worked well to catch trout.

Anyone ever made serious use of 'minimalist' flies like these? Puts a
whole
new spin on tying your own flies!

--riverman


Hot glue eggs. A drop of glue on a hook, turned until the glue forms a nice
little ball on the hook, and dipped in water to set. Perfect imitation of
trout and or salmon eggs.

Hooked wrote:

Hot glue eggs. A drop of glue on a hook, turned until the glue forms a nice
little ball on the hook, and dipped in water to set. Perfect imitation of
trout and or salmon eggs.

That's not a fly, it's bait.

--
Ken Fortenberry