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upinak

Hair or CDC for stillwater mayfly duns?

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I’m in the process of tying my “stock” fly boxes for when I retire in a few years. I’m going to buy a nice RV, pontoon watercraft and begin fly fishing America. I’m using as my primary guide Dave Hughes Essential Trout Flies. His writing has served me very well for nearly 30 years. His recommendation is to carry both hair wing and sparkle duns. Given the writing is 11 years old now I’m curious as to whether popular opinion has shifted from compardun hair to CDC for still water dun mayflies. While he devotes the usual two pages to CDC flies, his essential fly box lists none. I suppose I could tie both, fish and make up my own mind, but I would be interested in hearing what has been the experience of those who may have perhaps have fished both and have an opinion. Any comments or experiences would be most appreciated. Thank you!

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I cant really comment on cdc over hair as i have relativly limited experience using cdc however an rv trip fly fishing across the country sounds like a blast and is something that i have always looked forward to doing. I still have another 30+ years before retirement so its going to be a while but i wish you the best of luck when you do set off on your trip.

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I cant really comment on cdc over hair as i have relativly limited experience using cdc however an rv trip fly fishing across the country sounds like a blast and is something that i have always looked forward to doing. I still have another 30+ years before retirement so its going to be a while but i wish you the best of luck when you do set off on your trip.

 

Why Thank You Mr. Bull... Potter County in PA is very high on my Bucket List. Kettle, Oswayo, Pine, and Sinnemahoning Creeks look quite inviting.

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if your going to make it up to potter county make sure you go a little west to venango county. Oil creek is one of if not the best trout streams in western pennsylvania. Last year me and 2 other guys fished it opening weekend. we pulled in over 130 trout in 2 days and i could count on 1 hand how many we caught under 12" long between the 3 of us. I cant wait for this year though im taking off 6 days and am going to really explore that stream until my casting arm falls off.

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I can't speak for the rest of the fly fishermen in the world but I personally prefer the CDC wing. I like the way it floats and bla bla bla. In the end I doubt the fish care though.

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While I agree with blakejd's comment "blah, blah, blah" (spelling corrected), I find CDC too fussy and much prefer deer hair. If you are going to be retired, why not tie both and make up your own mind? You will have a lot of time for experimentation.

 

Good luck.

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Moving water, I prefer hair wing comparadun patterns. Still water, I don't see why CDC wouldn't work. On fast water, CDC has a tendency to matt up (especially after a few fish.) Its easily dried out, either in some Frog's Fanny, or by retiring the fly in favor of a different one for a while. I have plenty of both, and find that I use the hair wings most of the time.

 

 

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Another thought. You could try Snowshoe Hare's foot for wings. Check out the Usual pattern that was posted a couple days ago.

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