Worst of the best.

[Fletchfishes 0]

Great thread - I've always been bothered with this exact concept... a fly everyone raves about that never works for me. I have a couple:

-GRHE (finally caught something on it for the first time this year, but it was a situation where virtually any fly would have worked.)

-Muddler Minnow (suspect I'm fishing this thing wrong - isn't it supposed to be a sculpin imitator? Mine float.)

-BWO Dry Fly (the standard dry hackle recipe - I never catch in this hatch.)

 

Of course, there are other flies that seem to work much better for me than I have any reason to expect if I went of other's experience, but that's another topic...

[atxdiscgolfer 0]

Muddler minnow

[Fisherboy0301 0]

Great thread - I've always been bothered with this exact concept... a fly everyone raves about that never works for me. I have a couple:

-GRHE (finally caught something on it for the first time this year, but it was a situation where virtually any fly would have worked.)

-Muddler Minnow (suspect I'm fishing this thing wrong - isn't it supposed to be a sculpin imitator? Mine float.)

-BWO Dry Fly (the standard dry hackle recipe - I never catch in this hatch.)

 

Of course, there are other flies that seem to work much better for me than I have any reason to expect if I went of other's experience, but that's another topic...

 

Yeah I bet the muddler minnow could be a sculpin. Try wrapping the shank with lead wire, stopping before you get to where you'll spin the hair. The muddler is also a pretty good hopper in smaller sizes. For bass I like mine to barely float and go under when I strip, slowly floating back up on pauses. They absolutely crush it as it floats up.

[Crackaig 0]

Most of the muddlers tied today have far more deer hair in the head than the original ones that imitated sculpins. Good article on the original here .

Cheers,

C.

[JoeBillingsley 0]

Foam hoppers. There can be grasshoppers everywhere and I can catch fish on deer hair hoppers, Stimulators, CDC&Elk, EHC, and practically anything else that could resemble a hopper. But nothing on foam hoppers.

 

Joe

[Steven Wiersma 0]

Royal Coachman.

[flytire 0]

copper john

 

its a good fly for somebody but its totally useless in my fly box

[Bryon Anderson 0]

First a comment on the original post -- the dog's swingers, lmao! Never heard that one before. I did have an Uncle Cleetus and he never used that phrase, but he sure would have gotten a laugh out of it.

 

Now on to the OPs question: several people have already mentioned the original Muddler Minnow and that pattern has never worked for me, either. Ironically, I catch fish all the time on the Muddler's descendants: Marabou Muddler, Zoo Cougar, Bow River Bugger/Woolly Sculpin, they all work great, but the original--no dice. I'm sure it's partly because I don't like the looks of the original - it doesn't look like a minnow or a sculpin to me, and it doesn't inspire confidence in me.

 

Several have also mentioned the GRHE--I would extend this to all nymphs, but I don't blame the patterns there. I just don't like nymphing so I've never had the patience to learn to do it properly. If I have to go subsurface, I'd much rather throw a streamer and catch fewer but larger fish. I do nymph for steelhead but I suck at it. I'm going to try swinging streamers for them this fall and winter, too.

 

A dry fly that has never worked out for me is the Elk Hair Caddis. I know, I know, everybody swears by it, and I think it is a good pattern, but the ones I've used almost never land upright and it drives me crazy. I have fished a no-hackle version with good success. A similar pattern that does work well for me is the St. Vrain Caddis--same dubbed body and hair wing as the EHC, but with a collar hackle at the front, trimmed flush with the hook point, instead of the palmer hackle. My favorite caddis is the Goddard Caddis--you basically can't land that thing in a way that won't draw a strike.

[whatfly 0]

None. If you have never caught a fish on a given pattern, you must not have tried it much, because anything up to and including a bare hook will work in one circumstance or another. Of course, if you have no faith in a pattern, it might take a while because you will fish it differently, which might be the source of your problem.

 

Now there are lots of patterns I do not fish because I do not like them, such as the Pheasant Tail (American version), but that's another story...

[tidewaterfly 0]

I can't recall any of the better known patterns that I've fished extensively that I never caught a fish on, but like Whatfly said, there have been flies I didn't fish much. Frankly, I've caught a lot of fish on a Prince nymph, but not the original version tied with biots. I've caught fish on them, but not many because I don't care for the pattern as it's tied.

 

My issue is with biots! I just don't like them! They are a do nothing material IMO. They have no action, motion nor do they add anything positive to a fly pattern IMO. For patterns that specify biots, I'll substitute something else, like rubber or silicone legs.

[sunsignarcher 0]

WOW! I can't believe all of the GRHE comments.

 

I ran a GRHE under a holy grail ( basically a soft hackle GRHE ) on a drop shot rig 99% of the time this year and had my best year by far. I would, and practically did, give up everything else in the box for that fly.

 

 

Ill second the copper john though....useless for me.

[Troutbum11 0]

I would have to say the muddler minnow as well. There are far better (More productive) streamers in my box.

[kennebec12 0]

Gray Ghost. If I troll a big one I'll catch fish, but the minute I try to fly fish with it I get nothing. I have other of my own smelt imitations I'll get fish on though.

[Steiner 0]

Royal Coachman

[Istripbuggers 0]

The Muddler minnow has given me zero luck.. Ill stick with buggers