Casting Class Tomorrow Morning; Need Fly Suggestions (please)!

[Freddo 0]

Well - well... I'm finally getting my first ever fly casting lesson tomorrow morning using my brandy new 9' 5WT rod/reel combo! Just SO EXCITED and ready to get involved in "fishing" with it other than accumulating fly tying tools and materials and learning to tie the flies.

Lots of you suggested how I should get out there and get started with learning to cast (and thanks) but timing didn't allow that to happen for me. I'm happy about that sort of only because I'll be taught by a 40 year veteran/pro my first time out. Why not start out that way?!?

Next, after getting the hang of casting, I need to get the flies to the fish... Oh my, but which flies?

I need a list of the "MUST HAVES" for my fly box. I know asking a question like this is perhaps like opening up Pandora's box but hey, I've got this clean, new fly box that's 99% empty and will hold a lot of flies. What should I stuff it with?? I'm in Northern NJ if that matters but "I'm" thinking the generics would be best - yes - those flies I could travel anywhere with and catch trout! That's the goal - a trout on a fly rod. That may sound like old hat to many of you but it's been a thing I've never done and I've been bait fishing for trout for 45 years. That first one will be a moment to remember I bet!

Thanks in advance for your lists and advice!

[mikechell 0]

The only problem with your question is: What will you be targeting? What kind of water will you be fishing.

 

I am a BIG fan of the top water hit. I highly recommend some small and medium sized hopper or foam popper patterns. Bass, sunfishes and trout all eat hoppers.

My second most important fly is a minnow pattern of your choice. Anything that mimics 1 inch minnows will draw strikes when the fish come shallow.

In streams, you'll also want some aquatic insect mimics, like stone flies and zebra midges.

[Freddo 0]

Thanks MIkechell... I did mention trout but not the water type. We have a lake stocked with trout and there are stocked rivers around here too. The rivers are all widths and my casting abilities will likely dictate where and how I fish once I get started.

 

Thanks for your recommendations!

[Adam Saarinen 0]

Cdc & elk will be your very good friend Freddo!

[Dave G. 0]

Stocked trout love small woolie buggers be it in streams or lakes. In fact most fish like woolie buggers in general. My most strike prone woolie bugger is tied with a peacock herl body, black tail and grizzly hackle. I tie them all sizes, they have caught fish on Cape Cod lakes and ponds to Northern Maine rivers. They can imitate damsel fly nymphs, the big northern stonefly nymph, a minnow, a sculpin, i9n the larger sizes it could imitate a Salmon fly... I tie them from size 12 to 6, even 4.. Anyone can tie them, it's often a first tie anyway.

 

If you can tie a woolie bugger then you can tie a Griffiths Gnat. Another fish anywhere fly. And you can tie a woolie worm.

 

Black Nosed Dace is pretty generic as a bucktail streamer, again I've caught salmon in Maine on these and stocked trout locally on ponds and spring fed waters. I also do a spin off of this in Purple, pink and white instead of the black brown and white that seems very popular in stream fishing to trout and salmon. The fish love it fished lively, very lively.

 

You aren't ready for a Muddler Minnow yet. It's another must have though, that you can fish about anywhere. I've caught 3-4 lb bass on small Muddlers here at home and 22 inch salmon in Maine on the exact same fly ! Fished wet on sinking line at home and greased up floating in Maine . I'd wait till your second level skills of tying kicks in for that though ( my stepson still buys them, he just hates tying them, he can do it but won't)..

 

There are several versions of marabou streamers you could tie.

 

Those NJ streams I bet are calling for a soft hackle pattern of some sort. i don't know the specifics of your waters, the locals will though. I bet that casting instructor knows a thing or two about local flies !

[ihang10 0]

For me, trout in a lake means I'd consider a sink tip. Long leader with weight or weighted flies is your other option.

[ihang10 0]

Also, our stocked trout in a lake can't resist a krelex.

[Dave G. 0]

For me, trout in a lake means I'd consider a sink tip. Long leader with weight or weighted flies is your other option.

Indeed, I didn't mention that part ! But yes much more effective on lakes unless there is a persistent hatch going on. Here that hatch would be midges first, hexes next, then some BWO. Rare but it happens black caddis. In the summer cinnamon ants. Day in and day out, sinking line though with woolie buggers or BND. Oh forgot scuds over the weed beds, how could I forget scuds on a full sink line !.

 

Pan fish poppers work in June, July and Aug for both panfish and bass.

[Freddo 0]

Wow - thanks to *ALL* of you for your thoughts and ideas! I'll be tying a few of the smaller wooly buggers very soon to try in our lake and maybe a streamer type or two because we were nailing the trout on spinners opening day. My fly casting lesson went very, very well this morning and I'm so excited to start wetting flies. At the shop this morning, there was a free monthly periodical I was offered that has a list of all the flies that occur around here, when they occur (roughly), and the even the sizes they might be tied in for best results. The publication is titled: "Mid Atlantic Fly Fishing Guide" and serves: PA, NY, MD, NJ, DE, VA, CT, NC, and TN (a lot of you might be familiar with it). The fly shop owner advertises in it so he gets copies to give away. There's my definitive "local" list. I did ask for generics and I got that from most of you so thanks again.

The Griffiths Gnat was a dry I wanted to tie right away but have no grizzly hackle for dries yet (my birthday is coming up in May so maybe I'll pitch some hints). I also recall reading, and Dave G. confirmed, that ants are good to use.

[Dave G. 0]

The Griffiths Gnat was a dry I wanted to tie right away but have no grizzly hackle for dries yet (my birthday is coming up in May so maybe I'll pitch some hints). I also recall reading, and Dave G. confirmed, that ants are good to use.

Glad your lesson went well Freddo and that you learned a bit about local flies !

 

I used up about all the size 18 prime feathers on a Spencer half Grizzly cape I owned for a long time. Knowing that day was coming I picked up a generic ( Spencer went out of business) with longer feathers but stiffer stems for about a 1/4 of the price of a name brand like Whiting. Now the stiff stems can break now and then when tying in but overall it's been a very usable half cape. In Ginger and in Coachman Brown I buy necks , I think I have Wapsi right now on those and they are fine ( I think i paid $12 for my last Wapsi neck and there are a lot of my size 22-16 sized feathers on it ( keep in mind on an inexpensive neck like this you get one fly out of one feather). But I use a lot of Grizzly in my tying , the half cape works for me in that.. The generic barbules are stiffer and shorter than the old Spencer was so I'm not going to get much for bugger feathers from it. I've kind of turned that over to hen hackle anyway though. I love hen in woolie buggers even if it means tying in a second feather for the neck area of the fly. ( hen feathers aren't really long but very soft). But my old Spencer Half cape still has a lot of longer bugger feather left on it too.

 

Fishing the Griffiths Gnat is a lesson all it's own lol, and midge fishing IS a lesson all it's own for sure!! Here on Cape Cod fishing still water I tend to use the Griffiths Gnat when midges cluster on the surface ( mating time they roll in balls over the waters surface then). That seems to be the best time. But in larger sizes I've even fished them on sinking line. No idea what the fish think they are then but they do take them, usually quite deep down in the water column.. I tend to tie these as size 18 to 16 as dries and maybe 14 when sinking them ( the 16 will work). That 18-16 dry seems to work in a size 20-22 midge hatch pretty well as long as it's mating time for the midges. The fish here aren't big on taking single dry midge patterns , far more effective is the Griffiths Gnat or better the Emerging Midge under the surface ( so floating line but sunk fly hanging maybe 6-9 inches down, not the Griffiths gnat now , but an emerger like a Buzzer type pattern for instance to name one, though not what I use ).. But if you think about a Griffiths Gnat with a red tag on the back you would have a Woolie Worm basically and trout have no issue taking Woolie Worms..

 

Again I can't speak for your waters ! I thinks it's time for you to go fly fishing, there is no better educator than experience doing something !

 

Ants: Obviously terrestrial, so what matters here locally is the swarm of flying ants that land on water and get stuck there. Know "your" ants locally or the ones that are landing in the water there at least.. Not just any ant will do in my experience, not on still water anyway. It does you no good to fish a size 12 black ant when the fish are on size 16 ginger, red or cinnamon. On one pond locally it's size 16 cinnamon. I use a curved caddis style hook , two balls of synthetic dubbing, a wisp of white antron yarn for the wing, brown and grizzly feathers for the legs.. If these things land in the water on their sides then all the better, that's what the naturals do, they are stuck not emerging but ready to sink LOL . They are not standing on the water like a caddis or mayfly will. i use light wire hooks (Tiemco) and tie that rear lump of dubbing part way around the curve of the hook. Other people just tie in two bumps of foam and a ring of hackle in the center ( hackle is always centered in ant patterns not a collar tie in.

[Freddo 0]

Thanks a mint Dave G. for the hackle notes. I looked at one neck (grizzly) yesterday but wasn't impressed and it was a whole one for $36. But - I'm not a pro and only know what I know from reviews and a LOT of reaading. That neck didn't seen to have a lof of the smaller sizes. I wouldn;t mind paying for better if better is worth the extra cash (gift or no gift; it's still miney spent). I see some vendors selling two half necks to get you two colors but then "most" state you can do a lot with the grizzly and if needed, color them with a Sharpie as required.

[Dave G. 0]

Thanks a mint Dave G. for the hackle notes. I looked at one neck (grizzly) yesterday but wasn't impressed and it was a whole one for $36. But - I'm not a pro and only know what I know from reviews and a LOT of reaading. That neck didn't seen to have a lof of the smaller sizes. I wouldn;t mind paying for better if better is worth the extra cash (gift or no gift; it's still miney spent). I see some vendors selling two half necks to get you two colors but then "most" state you can do a lot with the grizzly and if needed, color them with a Sharpie as required.

Grizzly is nice to work with, it's worth having a decent one be that neck, cape, half, full. I've been tying for decades on Grizzly and something else, be it brown or ginger usually. Often when the pattern didn't call for grizzly. That all started with elk Hair caddis as a switch up from the original ginger hackle in the ones I tied. Caught even more fish ! Those Spencer capes were worth while and my remaining grizzly still has some nice feathers on it. If I could only own one variety of hackle I guess it would be grizzly. If I could only own one body material besides thread or chenille I guess it would be peacock herl. One wing material ? Toss up between calves hair/tail or Poly/antron yarn but duck flank is right up there too. Elk hair vs deer hair ? I'll take deer thank you. A matched pair of feathers mottled turkey or barred pheasant ? I'll take the turkey thank you..

 

Do I see a fly tying class in your future too ? Fine but don't let that stop you from fishing NOW, lol !

[Freddo 0]

Grizzly is nice to work with, it's worth having a decent one be that neck, cape, half, full. I've been tying for decades on Grizzly and something else, be it brown or ginger usually. Often when the pattern didn't call for grizzly. That all started with elk Hair caddis as a switch up from the original ginger hackle in the ones I tied. Caught even more fish ! Those Spencer capes were worth while and my remaining grizzly still has some nice feathers on it. If I could only own one variety of hackle I guess it would be grizzly. If I could only own one body material besides thread or chenille I guess it would be peacock herl. One wing material ? Toss up between calves hair/tail or Poly/antron yarn but duck flank is right up there too. Elk hair vs deer hair ? I'll take deer thank you. A matched pair of feathers mottled turkey or barred pheasant ? I'll take the turkey thank you..

 

Do I see a fly tying class in your future too ? Fine but don't let that stop you from fishing NOW, lol !

 

 

The fly shop I visit does have tying classed and even down to 1 on 1. I'm not doing bad so far on my own but proportioning is the "thing" I need to get a better handle on. Thanks for the information.

[Adam Saarinen 0]

Freddo! For dryfly fishing, ty the cdc&elk! It will teach you cdc & elk/deer hair sklills! Super eazy dryfly! Also you can put float gel & mess them up so they look like nothing? But they then look like everything! Cdc&elk dryfly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[thursthouse 0]

scuds are pretty plentiful in all nj rivers. At the moment, the dry fly action has been slow to spotty, so nymphing unfortunately still seems to produce the best numbers.

 

Griffiths gnat (as i think someone already mentioned) can be tough to fish if you're new to the game. It can be hard to see on rivers and at times you need to be able to guess where the fly should be and watch for strikes in that area (learning to do that comes with practice and knowing how much leader you have tied on and where the various currents will carry your fly)

 

I dont like streamer fishing all that much, but the slumpbuster is the first one I'll tie on if the situation calls for it. pushes a lot of water. I have also caught bass in a lake on them when messing around with some buddies.

 

Adams are pretty good all around dry flies..