Your basic go-to trout flies...

[Justib05 0]

Hello fellow tiers. I am a relatively new fly fisherman as well as tier (summer 2011) and I have a question for you more experienced tiers (tyers?). My first fly ever tied was an Elk Hair Caddis and I have attached the fly below. Keep in mind that that fly was literally the first fly I've ever tied so proportions arent 100%. Anyhow, what are your guy's simple go to flies. What are the most basic dry-flies and nymphs, as well as color patterns for wooly buggers? I apologize if this is redundant or has been answered before but I didn't find a good thread on it in the search bar. Please keep them relatively easy/manageable although I am pretty good at picking up the technique (I tied that fly below by watching a youtube video). Let me know whatcha got!!

[atxdiscgolfer 0]

So many it would take all night to name them butRainbow Warriors, Pheasant Tail Nymph, size 10 Olive Conehead WoolyBoogers, Zebra Midges, RS2's, and BWO Patterns

[rainbow27 0]

phesent tails 14-22 zug bug 12-18 princton nymph 12-18 all nymphs bead optinal.

 

for dries adams and parachute adams 12-22

 

wolly olive with bared hackle 8-14

[shoebop 0]

I have always thought that since most flies are meant to imitate a specific insect and stage that it would be silly to have a "favorite". Whatever would be hatching or likely to hatch would be the favorite for the day. That being said, if I have a favorite, it would have to be a style of fly rather than an insect species. I love the soft hackels. I will try them first most of the time but even then I will let the river tell me what might be the best approach. I also have favorite imitations. I like an elk hair emerger when there are caddis hatching for example. I like a low riding mayfly of any species. I like emergers more than a dun imitation except in low light situations.

For attractor patterns I like a Royal wulff or a stimulator. Streamers is too convoluted to make any choice there. Take your pick.

[Losthackle 0]

This question got me thinking long and hard, partly because I re-cast the question along the lines of what one fly would you not be without.

 

And it's a toss-up (in no particular order):-

 

Black and peacock spider (#12, fat peacock herl body and long soft black hackle)

 

Red and Black Woolly Bugger (#8 Long shank, unweighted) (Black marabou tail, copper wire rib, black cock hackle palmered, carmine red wool)

 

And in the second rank:- softhackles (#14 black and starling; gray and partridge; orange and partridge); a shrimp type Czech nymph (#8 grub hook plastic green back over hare's ear, copper rib, bead head); a small sedge/caddis dry (# 14 deer hair tip wings, light tan fur or sub, mottled ginger-brown cock hackle); #14 Adams

 

Hope that helps.

[Losthackle 0]

Forgot to mention: the third rank would depend on where I was fishing.

 

If I was going to the Lakes I would have a three fly English rig (carrot on the top dropper, one of the soft hackles on the middle dropper and a daddy long legs on the point); I would also have a set of midge emerger patterns.

 

If I was fishing our meadow streams, I would have a variety of mayfly nymph patterns, emergers, red spinner and black spinner.

 

This is all for regular trout fishing.

 

It would be completely different for sea runners (sea run brown trout), estuary or saltwater fishing, of course.

[falsecast 0]

We have some regional patterns here in Sweden which are "must-have" for me, but like to recommend some universal flies/types (for inland trout, streams and still water):

 

Parachute Adams, original colour.

Klinkhamer, colours tan, brown, yellow, olive.

Elk hair caddis: natural and bleached, and maybe Europea-12 and Goddard Sedge,

A nice generic winged mayfly pattern, tan, yellow, brown, grey

A generic midge pattern.

 

Hares ear, natural, olive

Hares ear with gold head, also see the "flash-back" variant.

Pheasant Tail

Caddis larvae and nymph

Cased caddis

Emergers and flymf patterns

mosquito larvae/nymph

 

Wolly Worm; brown, black, olive, maybe an orange/hot variant for early season.

Muddler Minnow

Zonker: natural, olive, white

 

Beetles: Black, brown,olive

Wasp

Daddy Long Leg

 

Cheers,

Ulf

[Crackaig 0]

Simple flies. Well I like simple. Simple I can do... I'm male!

 

One of the best fish producers over the last few seasons has been the Tavy Terror. A very simple fly that, with the skills you have demonstrated you will be able to tie easily.

Hook: Wet fly 10 to 16 (Start with a 10 or 12)

Thread: Black.

Rib: Gold wire. (The original calls for fine gold tinsel but wire makes a much stronger fly)

Hackle: Softish Greenwell (That is a red/brown hackle with a black centre and tips to it) Here's a quick photo sequence of the tying.

In smaller sizes it would be a good fly to trail behind your EHC.

 

An even simpler fly of a similar style is the Greenwell's spider Just the same as the Tavy but omit the gold wire and use primrose yellow silk waxed. (You can use a gold rib but the original doesn't call for it).

 

As you are just starting out It will help you to take note of the techniques you learn rather than the fly patterns. In your EHC you have learned to start and finish your thread. Form a dubbed body. Wind a palmered hackle. Wind a rib. Form a deer hair wing. You can now tie any fly that uses any or all of these techniques. By looking at techniques you can pick useful things out of videos to use on other flies.

 

A friend of mine, Dr Malcolm Greenhaugh, tried an experiment some years ago. He tied a simplified variation of the EHC, consisting of a dubbed body and wing only. For one season this fly, in a variety of colours and sizes, was the only dry fly he fished for trout and grayling. He noticed no reduction in the number of fish he caught. He even found it an effective daytime fly for sea trout (sea run browns) in larger sizes. That would be a great easy fly to add to your box.

 

Cheers,

C.

[planettrout 0]

These two have accounted for a vast number of Trout, for me, in still and moving water - tied in #12 - #18:

 

 

...as for Wooly (Seal) Buggers, I tie them in a bunch of different colors...Black, Brown and Olive work best in the Eastern Sierras...

 

 

PT/TB

[TheCream 0]

Just to add to what is already noted (and if it was mentioned, I missed it, my apologies), the simple yet deadly Griffith's Gnat. That fly has saved my bacon too many times to count.

[Flat Rock native 0]

Everyone's suggestions above very good, IMHO. I also recommend that you read a Hatches magazine article by Bill Loehr entitled "How Many Flies?" in which the author suggests you could get by with 4 basic patterns. It may help you prioritize your efforts.

 

Personally, I favor emergers and cripples for still water applications, and soft hackles and tung bead heads- depending on how fast the moving water is moving.

[JohnP 0]

Some great suggestions here. It would help to know where you are fishing to offer more concrete ideas.

For dry flies, I like elk hair caddis, X caddis, parachute Adams, cdc and elk and Bob Wyatt's Deer Hair and Snowshoe emergers. For nymphs, hard to beat hare's ears, zug bugs, prince nymphs and copper johns. My favorite flies to tie and fish are soft hackles, so a selection of pheasant tail soft hackles, partridge and orange, partridge and yellow, partridge and green, hare's ear and plover and herl-bodied flies are always in my boxes.

There's a fellow on Youtube named Matt Thomas who demonstrates a series of simple, wire-bodied flies. I can't personally vouch for their effectiveness, but they look like the bee's knees.

[joman 0]

My go to would definetly be a red elongated cone head bugger with the upturned eye middle body, then a san juan worm in a dark pink, and chironomid pattern

[dogsnfish 0]

My season is

winter: spring creeks

Spring: Lakes

Summer: N.ID and W. MT streams

Fall: steelhead

 

Looking on at trout in streams, I love soft hackles and often use them as a dropper. Some other favorites: x-caddis and elk hair caddis, sparkle emerger, purple haze, parachute adams, stimulator, Clark's stonefly, pheasant tail parachute, rylee's caddis, hares ear parachute

[sniperfreak223 0]

-For dries, just a generic parachute with hackle and body color to match the most likely hatch, or a Pheasant Tail Parachute for scouting.

 

-For nymphs, usually just a size 12-16 GRHE (with a wiggle Dub thorax), or a PT in waters with heavy BWO populations, and Czech nymphs for faster water.

 

-For wets, I rarely use anything other than a Hare's Ear soft hackle

 

-For streamers, it's pretty much just the Clouser Deep Minnow

 

But all in all, my most used fly is probably a size 14 bead-head olive hare's ear nymph, with a wiggle dub thorax, black bead head, mottled hen hackle barb tail, and a copper wire rib. I go through at least 100 of those a year.

 

*disclaimer- I spend a lot more time fishing for smallmouth and panfish than trout, so that might play a role in these decisions.