Number of paterns vs. what you use

[duckydoty 0]

I went out trout fishing for the 1st time this year. Spent all winter tying and tying all different types and sizes of patterns. For a one day trip I took over 300 flies with probably 30-40 different patterns. Dry flies, parachutes, adams, mosquitoes, caddis, cracklebacks, gnats, ants, wet flies nyphs, beadheads, scuds, sow bugs, cased caddis, dragonfly nyphs, midges, brassies, pheasant tails, crochetted flies, leaches, mohairs, zonkers, wooly buggers, coneheads, and on and on and on.

 

I only used 4 different patterns all day! Think I'm carrying too much stuff with me?

 

The sad thing is now that I'm home again all I want to do is tie up more patterns for the next trip

 

Any body else have this problem?

Duckydoty

[Brewer 0]

every time i go out

[Steeldrifter 0]

The whole thing about trout fishing though is your will use those patterens throughout the year, but it just depends on what time of year your fishing.

 

In other words this trip you may have fished for instance BWO's...now in 3 weeks you wont be using BWO, something else will be hatching, such as brown drakes or something such as that. So you will use them, just you need to only take whats hatching is you want to condence the box.

 

SD

[Joe Hard 0]

I mainly fish streamers for trout, and I have narrowed it down to three patterns, that I carry. I usually only throw one and it is extremly effective. For the type of fishing you mentioned, it doesnt hurt to have a full box or two because you never know what will work or when. You also do not want to be on the water, when your flies are at home.

[Kodiak Commando 0]

I don't use many different flies for bows up here all you need is some leech, sculpin, egg and flesh patterns. Salmon are a different stoy in freshwater. The salmon don't feed in freshwater so many of the flies are attractor patterns for reasons know and unknown some flies work one day and not the other. There are mainstays like the egg sucking leech or bunny fly that consistantly work but there are other flies that i tie that work once a week or even once a year. I had one fly that caught me 30 chrome silver salmon one day and it never worked again for two years but i still kept it around just in case and sure enough one day it caught me 25 silver salmon, fishing, go figure

 

Because of this i usually carry at least 4 boxes chuck full of different attractor patterns.

[duckydoty 0]

Fear of being without the right fly at the right time cause me to carry more than I'll ever use

Duckydoty

[Sean Juan 0]

I have my staple flies - Hare's Ear's Buggers muddlers and Cracklebacks

 

I will only use something else if

 

a. I can't buy a bite

 

or

 

b. I've caught a lot of fish already and just want to try something else

 

 

The fact that I tie roughly 1000 different patterns is a sign of mental illness.

 

If I fished the same water a lot I'd probably have a specialized box but I bounce around.

[Alex C. 0]

As this is my rookie year I don't have all that I would like right now as far as fly selection. So I guess you could say that since fish eat flys and I don't have a lot of variety right now( as far as trout fishing is concerned) that I am broke So like every po boy out there I have big dreams. This winter I will be a tying machine. I will tie a half dozen to a dozen of every hatch for my local chart, in each size that I'll need. Some flys such as hairs ears or PT nymphs, adams, etc, I'll tie up probably around 100 of each in all needed sizes.

 

These flys will be organized in plano boxes by the emergence schdule, I'll have a box for jan, feb, march, etc. Then I'll have a couple boxes each for steelhead, salmon, bass, pike, carp, etc. Then I will just take what hatching with me , plus some "possibles", if I run out of something I can tie as needed, make a note in that compartment that that fly ws productive so the next winter I can tie extra of it when restocking

 

Sure it's overboard, but I don't care, I love tying and I love fishing, and as I've learned already that theres nothing more frustrating than to not have the right fly for the job