Blackotter

One of my best patterns for a bwo or pmd is a sparkle dun with bleached coastal deer hair, so the "wing" is fairly light and not close to dun colored at all. It's also very visible to me, even in small sizes instead of having something small and dark that my eyes can't pick up on the water. Unless the fly is completely underwater, it's really very difficult to see the fly that is above the water when something is underwater looking up at it. The rougher the water, even less is visible.

Blackotter, I have seen this pattern before and I have heard it is a killer on the Horn. To me it doesn't resemble a sow bug very much. Any insight as to why this pattern works so well as a sow bug? Thanks, Max Once it gets wet, the soft hackle is right along the body if the right hackle is used. It creates a very good segmentation effect that actually mimics a sowbug pretty well. I use Ewing hen neck.

Definitely stoneflies but this time of year, I'd try some midge larva and pupa too.

A wooly bugger has caught every species of freshwater fish I've ever fished for including two of my largest rainbows as well as the largest fish I never landed that probably went 20-25 lbs. It's just funny how one fly works so well for another but not for someone else. I tie up a golden stonefly nymph and was banging the heck out of trout and one of my friends was having a very slow day so I gave him a couple and his skunking continued even though I was 50 yards away still catching fish on it. Suffice to say, some sort of streamer or two should be in your trout arsenal also. Some of your bass flies would probably work just fine.

I have 3 TFO rods. a 3 wt, 4 wt and 5 wt. The first two are the Professional and the last a TiCr. They all cast as well as rods that are in the $400 range and up. I have a tournament casting 5 wt rod of another brand and can hit 115' from time to time and 110' and over fairly often. The TiCr takes me a little getting used to, but it easly casts 105' for me any time I try. This past weekend, I was fishing with it and casting 20 to 30 feet just fine (granted, it was nymphs and split shot and not a size 22 dry). The 4 wt is my dry fly rod during the summer and casts big and small just fine. The only thing I don't like is big strong fish seem to have their way with me a little more than if I was using a 5 wt. It handles wind just fine too. The 3 wt is for small fish on small waters and honestly, I don't see the need for spending more money. It works beautifully. I did cast an 8 wt Teeny model this summer and I didn't care for it. It seemed really slow and soft. But I don't fish for steelhead so maybe it works just fine for that.

Out west, that would catch more than its fair share of whitefish.

Around here, yellow+black is pretty deadly. But last year, I tried olive + brown and that didn't work nearly as well as I thought it would.

One thing I notice, and it goes for more than just realistic flies, is proportion and size. One person I know ties realistic stoneflies and the head is wrong on every fly. It's too small in relation to the rest of the fly. It's a pretty good fly up to the head.

Sorry I don't have a photo, but another good pattern is the Fox Poopah. I like the looks of the Viking and Mike's....

Got mine today. Thanks everyone!

Just got them today. Great job, everyone!

My "invention" is just a combination of stonefly patterns. But I had been tying quite a few flies with ostrich herl when it struck me to try to mimic the gills on a stonefly with it.

It's amazing how many segmentations you can get. Mine never look that nice.

Whitefish are more substrate feeders than trout and if you've ever examined their stomachs, you'll find lots of things. Rocks, whole snails, cased caddis, chunks of wood (maybe from caddis casing?).

I'm in (with a miracle midge)