deciding what to tie

[csearsdirk 0]

I live in Colorado and fish about 35-50 days a year and live close to tailwaters, big and medium size rivers. I am by no means an expert, actually far from it, but have a drift boat and can typically catch at least a few fish when I go out, although not always. I really want to start tying now and stock up for the upcoming season, but I am drawing a huge blank on what I should be tying. I haven't been tying for very long. Normally before a day of fishing, I go to the local fly shop and buy 1-2 dozen flies after talking to the experts about what's going on. Now I am simply confused on what I need to be stocking up on and what sizes. A large part of this is due to not having fished for a few months. However, I am really at a loss on where to start. I'm the type of guy that sort of needs a list which motivates me and keeps me on track. So my question to more experienced tiers and fly fisherman is how do you come to decide what you need for the upcoming season. I'd like to have a pretty well rounded fly selection. I realize a better knowledge of my local waters and entomology would help me out, but I'm pretty lacking in that discipline. I guess I am just thinking out loud, and wondering if others have a similar problem.

[ZydecoGirl 0]

There are a couple of places to start...you can go with patterns based on what you like to fish or have the most success with - nymphs, streamers, dry flies etc. If you start tying some basic patterns that can used on your rivers, you can eventually tie variations and more difficult patterns. I have found that the Charlie Craven book is a good starting point for patterns that will work on most rivers. I started with the first pattern in the book and worked my way through it picking patterns and flies that will work in the Northeast were I fish. To get through a season you will probably need at least a dozen or so flies of each pattern in several sizes .

 

Most rivers have hatch charts which can also be used to determine which flies you might need for the season or you could go through your box and see what you have and what you might need. Your local shop can also point out the patterns that work well on your rivers. Get a few flies to use as samples or guides for your tying - they will help you visualize the proportions.

 

Good luck!

 

ZG

[David Legg 0]

I'm in Colorado... lately I've been tying up a bunch of slumpbusters in various colors... everyone locally seems to feel that it's a great pattern for larger trout in our area. I can always use more buggers as well, more elk hair caddis, parachute Adams, stimulators, Copper Johns, Pheasant tail nymphs, midge nymphs, to start.

[flytire 0]

what were your top flies from last year and do you still have some left? that would be a good place to start and replace the flies that you used the most.

[gatorjoe 0]

A great fly for CO is Charlie Craven's Mole Fly. But its tied with cdc which takes extra care when fishing, so if you don't like that then I would not reccomend it. But its a killer pattern and easy to tie.

[David Legg 0]

A great fly for CO is Charlie Craven's Mole Fly. But its tied with cdc which takes extra care when fishing, so if you don't like that then I would not reccomend it. But its a killer pattern and easy to tie.

Yep... Charlie is local... looking at his patterns is a great suggestion.

[csearsdirk 0]

thanks everyone. i have actually tied a lot of slumpbusters. i have never fished them yet, but i love chunking big streamers, and that seems like a killer pattern. i tend to nymph quite a bit. so that is probably a good place to start. i started fishing a lot of terrestrials last season and just stocked up on a bunch of foam and rubber legs, so maybe hoppers are a good place to start as well. it seems to be a bit overwhelming to try to fill empty fly boxes, but those are good ideas about figuring out what i used the most last season. i did pick up a book by skip morris with patterns for trout.

[Dezod 0]

I too am here in colorado.

 

For terrestrials I fish mostly hoppers... the Charlie Boy Hopper is simple to tie, durable and I have tied it in salmon for salmon flies, black for crickets, tiny for large caddis, olive, tan, yellow and dark green and have taken fish on all of them. Also love the foam beetle.

 

For nymphs around here I love the prince, pheasant tail, hares ear, but I would also encourage you to learn to tie a copper john if you don't know how and add at least the colors red and chartreuse to the standard copper copper john. John Barr carries like 9-10 differnt colors of copper johns to fish as the copper in his hopper-copper-dropper rig here. Barr's emerger is another great one.

 

I have also had great luck with Garcias rojo midge in both red and olive. I fish them in stillwaters here in larger sizes, but have taken a number of trout on tiny rojos in the rivers

 

Finally I love a size 18-20 parachute BWO (I worked down in size from 12 to the small ones)... this is probably my favorite fly to fish around here. I also have great luck on Stimulators from 8-16 in olive, orange, yellow, chartreuse and red.

 

Good luck filling your box

 

C