H.Champagne

Hmmm ... I guess that's why this thread is on the "Fly TYING" forum ... not the "Fly FISHING" forum. This is the part of the site where we talk about fly TYING stuff. For sure man, I know what page it is. didn't mean anything by it. I feel like this guy got his answer 9 different ways and anything beyond that just seems pointless though i do get it.

I totally support any persons right to post this up and discuss it but I just have to say that I believe this has nothing to do with catching fish. This is the kind of stuff you save to work on when you are like 93 and cant fish safely anymore. More power to ya though, I'd be a quite the hypocrite if I said I didn't just nerd out on certain things from time to time

I would mix your own to match it. Tie a few of each shade and in the name of science go fishing I love Caddis hatches for many reasons but mainly because I can fish dry flies on riffle sections and not have to match the hatch perfectly and still get tons of takes. Where do you fish? Sounds like some seriously picky trout!

I have done both and feel that going the head cement route is much stronger. I have an old strip of soft wood I think its cedar thats like 1/4"x2"x16" and I stick flies on the edge of it as I tie them and when I feel like my eyes are going to burn out of my head from tying I stop and apply head cement to those flies already completed. I feel like its faster than doing it to each fly individually but who knows. Other times if I'm feeling more OCD I apply HC to each fly individually. I think it also depends on the fly you are tying. If you are tying something delicate that is going to get crushed by two solid takes then maybe some nice tight whip finishes are ok on their own. But if you are tying flashback pheasant tails to fish the shit out of then I'd say a couple tight whips and a healthy dose of head cement. We can't let these trout start to think that we are getting lazy...

I would strongly recommend starting at a fly shop. Don't be afraid to tell the person who works there that you are totally new and just ask every question that pops in your head even if you feel like it might sound dumb. When I started tying I was living in Minneapolis and I went into a great fly shop there called the MN Fly Angler and just bugged the heck out of those guys haha. Its nice being able to hold the materials in your hands and compare things. I've been tying for 7 years and I still get frustrating sometimes buying materials online and end up with the wrong stuff. Once you get your feet wet I think a nice blend of fly shops plus hunting for good deals or hard to find materials online is a great way to go. Good luck!

Scuds are one of my favorite searching patterns. I feel like my orange flashy ones catch the most fish. I tie some with a lot of weight and sometimes put it on as my second fly of a nymph rig and just dredge the river with it haha. They are also super easy to tie and tie a lot of that I always stock up on em.

Great pictures and some nice fish

IMHO, not catching those bugs is an injustice to yourself. Dont get me wrong, if you're having fun, more power to you, its what its all about and i am not here to tell you you're wrong. But, if you were to follow some of the advice above and catch some of these bugs, and say...go to your local shop and find the closest pattern, or say...tie it, you will spend the rest of your life in a relentless pursuit of something wonderful. Sometimes its not the content but the process. Go catch that bug man, you'll be glad when it leads to you catching that fish...

hudson valley of ny

that looks great, is that trout bums playing? love that movie

I do not know your current schedule or travel restraints, but I would find a local fly shop and go in and buy the stuff you want.

Superstition - a belief in supernatural causality: that one event leads to the cause of another without any process in the physical world linking the two events. Over the years I have heard some very interesting superstitions about fishing. I have even developed one based purely on my own experience. I am curious to see input from everyone on this topic.... The old classic, if you catch a fish on the first cast the rest of the day/trip is ruined. I took a trip to the french river in Sudbury Ontario. The first morning we took our boat back into a small weedy bay, I tossed a big cast, stripped in, Bang, 42" northern pike. Spent the next 4 days getting sunburned and wishing i never caught that fish.... The superstition which I have developed is that buying cameras or nets for a specific trip will prevent you from needing either. Nets and cameras need to be purchased randomly without any thought of a specific day which they will be used. If you buy a net or camera on the road to a fishing location, you might as well go home.... Lets hear what other people have to say...

Regular Day Trip: Fly box nail clippers Hemostats Tippet 3x-7x Extra leader or two Gink Split shots Sunglasses indicators Lighter Knife H20 Sandwich with extra cheese

The Flawless series by Diamondback is a slightly faster action rod. They have that "high modulus" feel that TFO lacks. I only fly fish for trout, so I throw either a 4 or a 5 weight. TFO's have a lag that I feel draws power from your cast. I bought one when a lot of the hype came around a few years ago and I was not impressed. The only reason I even tried a diamondback was because of a friend of mine. He has been a fly fishing guide for years and convinced me to check them out. Absolutely great rod, light, responsive, crisp bend, but soft enough to protect tippet and still cast like a cannon. I believe it is a better design of higher modulus graphite, but i'm no rod builder. $250.

I organize my flies by time of year, not wet or dry. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. I can build perfect boxes based on what could hatch. Anyone who has been fly fishing even a few seasons has a rough idea of what is going to come off that day. Saves a ton of space.

Diamondback Flawless, blows TFO out of the water and way cheaper than Orvis.

The first big Caddis hatch each spring, nasal breathing only, i live for it.....

"rarely even touch..." Also, a bit of advice that I thought was really useful. Find a large trashy kitchen towel and a small bucket that it fits in. Keep this with you on the boat or where ever, Get the towel soaking wet, leave in bucket. If you land a big ass pike, or even a little guy who is going crazy, chuck the wet towel (never dry, it removes the protective slime)over the pike's head and hold it down for just a few seconds, they will settle down rapidly from not being able to see. Once calm, move the towel so that it still covers the eyes, quickly remove the hook, and free your fish. Works great, safer for you, safer for the fish.

I worked as a fishing guide in upstate NY for one season after high school working for my friend who guides for pike and muskie. We used 8lb test all the time, just straight mono. The one thing with pike is that when they want something, they usually crush it, and since they are crushing it, you know exactly when to set the hook, if you time your hook sets correctly the hook will be right in the top of their mouth 90% of the time. Pike flies are usually quite long so you have at last 3 to 4 inches of fly. Also, using a trailing hook like you see on some steel head patterns helps a lot. The teeth rarely even tough the line unless you are chucking dead minnows and the pike swallows it. my 2 cents is make the leaders so that you can cast what you are gonna throw, dont worry about the teeth. The moving fly and proper hook set will almost always save you.

I love tying new and interesting patterns. New materials, new ideas, it keeps tying interesting for me. I am also a college student and avid waterfowler. The reality of fly fishing is that the majority of the fish you catch are going to be on a select few flies. If you are a dry fly purist your range may be larger, but for me, I have built a kind of "greatest hits" fly box. Its roughly like 15 or so different nymph patterns (each with different sizes and slight tweaks) plus maybe 8 or 10 dry fly patterns. i have a couple randoms like hoppers and crickets and streamers, but those ~25 patterns cover 90% of what is likely to be hatching. I tie AP flies (all purpose) for searching patterns. great example being the soft hackle hare's ear. it imitates so much really well. This program has saved me a decent amount of time and money. need to save for a super black eagle II hahaha

dig it.

i buy the packages, not dispensers. Dubbing is so cheap, one investment to buy a ton of colors, 90% of which you will use very little, and you are set forever. The only dubbing i burn through is different blacks, greys, and browns.

I love my Rio Gold

I do not use any fly boxes with a middle page or section in them. If you are a wet fly kinda guy, then you are fine. I throw everything at trout and that middle divider always crushes my dry fly wings.

Hang on to it