what flies to fill a beginners box

[flytyinfreak 0]

I started doing a fly fishing bible study through my church this summer to see if I could build some some interest among some fellow church goers. A couple of the guys were at my house earlier this week and of course I showed em the man cave with my fly tyin central, command post and creation desk! They each whipped out $25 and said "tye me up some flies! They are both fairly new to the game and I want to give them a nice box of general trout flies. I was wondering what would fred do? what about letemgo or old hat, you get the point anyways..... I want to tye up a selection of general dries, general nymphs/wets and a couple sets of woolly buggers. Let's not think about the money and just take it like your tyin for a friend that has decided to enter the wide world of fly fishing and you want him or her to have the best chance at catchin a trout. I will be tyin 3 of whatever per person so I figure I should put about 20 different patterns in each box. so here we go. Give me your best 20 beginner box flies with a mix of wet and dry.

[iso18 0]

1-Fran betters usual--if sulphers and march browns r hatching

2-Foan ant-june-oct

3-beatle-same as above

4-any hi vis parachute pattern

5-zugbug-year round

6-hares ear year round

7-bwo dry

8-baetis nymph

9-isonychia-all summer

10-royal wulff-fast water

11-hoppers-summer and fall

12-adams

13-wooly bugger

14-prince nymph-year round

15-grifiths nat-20-22

16-muddler minnow

17-march brown

18 grey fox

19-kaufman stone-year rounf

20-last but not least,,,,nothing will boost a beginners confidence and give them more willingness to stay with it than a glo bug-salmon egg immitation

21-ANY SOFT HACKLES

 

tie these in an assortment of sizes and any beginner will be set for almost any situation and set them on a path of flyfishing tranquility

and be glad they have a friend who will tie them these patterns

 

my 2 cents or 20 cents

shane

[flykid 0]

1. wooly bugger

2. hares ear nymph

3. pheasant tail nymph

4. hopper big and yellow

5. hopper small and olive

6. adams

7. royal coachman, trude, any other royal thing dry

8. prince nymph

9. fox squirrel nymph

10. comparadun tan

11. usual

12. parachute adams

13. elk hair caddis

14. fur ant

15. sculpin of some sort

16. a couple soft hackles various colors

17. stimulator

18. chernoble ant

19. borcher's

20. griffith's gnat

 

Just some ideas, basic flies that aren't too specific and ones I have done well on. Should work throughout the season.

[smalltownfisherman 0]

Yeah...Yeah, I know... I'm not Old Hat or Letumgo; But these are some good fish catching flies.

 

 

Fish getting nymphs. These are not in order.

 

1 Gold-Ribbed Hare's Ear and Bead-Head Gold-Ribbed Hare's ear

2 Zug Bug

3 Copper John

4 Skip Nymph (from Skip Morris)

5 Pheasant Tail Nymph

6 Sawyer Pheasant Tail Nymph and Bead-Head Sawyer Pheasant Tail Nymph

7 Prince Nymph

8 Grey Goose

9 TDC

10 Box Canyon Stone

11 ANY soft-hackle

12 Almost forgot.... Olive & Black Wooly Bugger

 

Fish getting dries. Again no particular order.

 

1 Parachute Adams and Regular Adams

2 Humpys

3 Comparaduns

4 Henryville Special

5 Griffith's Gnat

6 Light Cahill and Light Cahill Parachute

7 Elk Hair Caddis and any variation

8 Any Wulff

9 Green Drake

10 Poly Wing Spinner

11 Ginger Quill

 

These will all make good starting flies.

 

 

Have a good one, Gage

[Futzer 0]

Hi Ross, I will give you a couple ideas, since I know how well you tie.

 

Olive, gold ribbed hare's ear nymph

 

Hare's ear parachute dry

 

Small black softhackles

 

Red/crystal candycane midge

 

olive paralooper emerger

 

Elkhair caddis

 

Size 32 Cadflies, (shamless plug)

 

Cheers, Jeff aka Futzer.

 

PS, hope you have been fishing since the unfortunate stunt work.

 

 

 

 

[Arkansas Mike 0]

My list more-or-less is just going to be a repeat of the others with a few exceptions. There are a few flies I recommend to "beginners" here on the White and Norfork not listed on other's list, but I'm sure flies that work in Arkansas might not work as well further North or out West, and vice-versa.

 

 

*Olive BH Gold-Ribbed Hare's Ear (I also like Kaufmann's CDC/Peacock BH Hare's Ear)

*Flashback BH Pheasant Tail

*Soft Hackles (Yellow, Green, Orange)

*Red Ass Kelso Soft Hackle

*BH CDC Prince Nymph

*Copper John

*Krystal Buggers (Olive, Black)

*Sowbugs

*Stimulators

*Hoppers

*Griffith's Gnat

*Elk Hair Caddis (Tan)

*Zebra Midge (16 & smaller)

*Scuds (tan,olive)

*San Juan Worm (red) (I know, I know!)

*Foam Beetle

*Adams Parachute

*Light Cahill

*Sulpher Dun

 

 

I just got back from a 3-day trip, and the only thing the fish seemed to find appealing were yellow soft-hackles. Much like Hare's Ear and Pheasant Tails, it's hard to go wrong with soft-hackles.

 

 

 

 

 

[Classic tier 0]

Personly I wouldn't tie anything smaller than an 18. Firstly sizes smaller than this can be very difficult to tie onto the leader, and therefore off-putting to beginners. Second, quite often you don't really need flies to go smaller than this. I can talk from experience. The wild brownies in the north west of Scotland are very quick, fussy little guys. They can spit your fly out in a fraction of a second.

 

However, I have only needed one cast a year, just (this year);

 

A butcher

A black pennell

Blae and black

 

 

Obiviously for the mayfly hatch (European mayfly!!!!), I may change to a dry, but the point is that for even the most difficult trout, just 6 patterns will easily see you through the season. You may have already tied the flies, or may want to take other's advice, but my advice is to tie 3 classic wets (they work), and 3 classic dries (they work).

 

All the best

 

CT

[whatfly 0]

I will be tyin 3 of whatever per person so I figure I should put about 20 different patterns in each box.

Am I reading this correctly? 60 flies for $25? I know you don't want to think about it in terms of money, but I fear you are being taken advantage of because you are an overly generous person. Either you are being paid to tie or you are just tying for friends for free. I personally see no middle ground. If the former, you are being paid too little for the number of flies you are contemplating, and if the latter, then you are being paid way too much. I never take money from friends for flies specifically to avoid these sorts of quandries.

 

Considering how long it will take you to tie that many flies, I would stick to fewer patterns and a wider range of sizes to make your task more manageable. This would also help improve your tying by learning how to adjust proportions for smaller sizes. If you are near the same Stanislaus I am (Nor.Cal.), then I'd probably tie basic proven trout patterns such as the Woolly Bugger, Hare's Ear, Pheasant Tail, Elk Hair Caddis, and Parachute Adams. The dries and the nymphs I'd tie #14-18, and the Woolly Buggers could be #8-10. I'd tie the nymphs & buggers with and without beads, and you might even want to make the nymphs flashbacks. If you tied 2-2 1/2 dozen, your friends would still be coming out way ahead of buying their flies at the shop.

[flytyinfreak 0]

I will be tyin 3 of whatever per person so I figure I should put about 20 different patterns in each box.

Am I reading this correctly? 60 flies for $25? I know you don't want to think about it in terms of money, but I fear you are being taken advantage of because you are an overly generous person. Either you are being paid to tie or you are just tying for friends for free. I personally see no middle ground. If the former, you are being paid too little for the number of flies you are contemplating, and if the latter, then you are being paid way too much. I never take money from friends for flies specifically to avoid these sorts of quandries.

 

IT's neither, of those bro, They want some flies from me and tossed out some money. They fully understand that they are getting way more than what they paid for. They are completely honorable and gracious Christian men and Believe me, I made sure they understood the cost of flies and how special my tyes are as in material and care of the tye versus a "factory fly". The other reason is becasue I am the teacher of this fly fishing/bible study and i want them to be fully prepared for anything they encounter on the Stan, (which is the Stan you are used to). I tie for pure pleasure and drop my flies around to people in my club and friends all the time! Sometimes just to see them use em and sometimes the patterns have been freakified and I WONDER IF THEY ARE GONNA CATCH FISHThere is definately no soiling of the art here! LOL quite the opposite. In fact is there something you need? I could tye up a half dozen of somethin for ya and leave em for you at Bob's in modesto? Only string attached is you have to fish em and tell me if they work!

[whatfly 0]

In fact is there something you need? I could tye up a half dozen of somethin for ya and leave em for you at Bob's in modesto? Only string attached is you have to fish em and tell me if they work!

You sir, are generous to a fault. Thanks for the offer, but I'm sure you can find someone more deserving.

 

Good luck.

[j74snook 0]

Need addy to send $25. What a deal And it even comes with an aluminum fly box too. Wow what a deal. :thumbup: :j_k:

[fishingbobnelson 0]

Here is my short list, 10 patterns invarious sizes:

 

1. Adams, size 14, 16

2. Elk Hair Caddis, size 12, 14, 16

3. Royal Trude (Bucktail Coachman), size 12, 14, 16

4. Red or Black Foam Ant, size 14

5. Muddler Minnow, size 10,12

6. Woolly Bugger in a couple of colors, size 10, 12

7. Pheasant Tail or Hares Ear Nymph, size 14, 16

8. Light Cahill Dry Fly size 12, 14

9. Irresistible, size 12, 14, 16

10. Brown Bivisible, size 12, 14

 

Good luck with the tying, maybe you will have some extra wurms to add to the mix, I didn't see them on anyone's list.