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TIER

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So guys lets take a break from all the videos and stuff and lets talk about our all-time favorite flies.  I want to assort fly boxes and sell them for my business, But there are some things I have no clue about, so what are your:

Top 10 pike flies

Top 10 Poppers for bass and pike

Top 10 flies for panfish

Top 10 dry flies for trout, char, and grayling

I only have 6 but Mine are:

grey dun size 16

elk hair caddis size 14

a tan variant of an adams size 14

yeager's neversink caddis size 16 or 18

Fran Better's usual size 14

mosquito size 16-20

 

Top 10 nymphs for trout, char, and grayling

Top 10 streamers for trout, char, and grayling

Top 10 saltwater flies

 

 

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You need the other Betters patterns; Au Sable Wulff, Haystack, and Au Sable Bomber.

And the Humpy. 

 

Also Fran's Mini Muddler and Au Sable Ugly. The great thing about the Mini Muddler is that it can be fished as a micro streamer, a dead drift nymph, or a hopper or caddis dry fly.

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Think long and hard before tying for a business,  materials and hooks are easy to justify prices,  but your time is expensive.   You don’t want to give away your labor for free.    I applaud your enthusiasm to make money,  its nice to see in your generation.   Best of luck!

Edited by petelangevin
Needed to add more

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Sorry, I dont use many dry flies.  I was forced to use them about 4 years ago. 

I carry a couple Griffith Gnats and. Couple wingless Adams.

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2 hours ago, petelangevin said:

I applaud your enthusiasm to make money,  its nice to see in your generation.

😄  They ALL want to make money, they just don't want to WORK for the money.

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2 hours ago, Landon P said:

I beg to differ

Same here. I was fly tying non-stop for an hour and a half.

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Most of mine really don't have names.

Pike flies:  I may have a shot at them once a year when I go up to Ontario.  Most of the lakes I fish have chain pickerel, a big one might be 30 inches and that's a catch of a lifetime.   This is my most productive pike fly.  No name.  It's a mongrel fly.  The tail I borrowed from Bob Popovics "Semper Fleye"  The body is alternate wraps of pearl estaz  and white spey hackle.  Tail is white buck tail,  6 white saddle hackles,  2 on each side and 2 on top. Hook is a 3/0 or  4/0 worm hook.P3270171.thumb.JPG.5e083204a059905887857fd059fc5189.JPG                                                                                                                                                                                            B

Bass Poppers:  various types, tied on pre-formed soft foam bodies, with a few, like Crease flies or the Heart popper, tied with craft foam.  Sizes tied on hooks as small as size 6 up to 4/0.  Colors, white, yellow, fire tiger, frog, shad/peanut bunker, perch.
Pan Fish Flies:  I fish mainly top water for them.
Yellow or white slider/spider- size 6 or 8                                                                                           Floating mop flies- size 6 or 8,  yellow, white and blue worked well last year.                                 Poppers- tied on size 6 or 8 hooks, same colors as the bass poppers.                                                  Bead Head Mop flies- size 6 or 8  white and yellow work the best.                             

Trout Dry flies:  At least I have a few names to throw out.                                                                The Usual-  size 10 to 20.  Colors to match the hatch                                                                      CDC and Elk- size 10 to 16.  Colors to match the hatch, tied on TMC 2488                                  Snowshoe Cripple/Emerger (based on the Quigley Cripple)-  size 10  to 16, tied on a TMC 2488
Nalle Puh-  size 10 to 14 
Wissahickon Midge- local pattern, size 18 to 32 tied on TMC 2488
Ridley Creek Fuzz Ball- local pattern, size 18 to 32 tied on TMC2488

Trout Nymphs:  pretty generic.
Bead Head Soft Hackle PT Nymphs- size 10 to 20, colors to match local insects
Bead Head Soft Hackle Mop flies- size 10 to 14, color to match local insects
Bead Head Soft Hackle Austin Chicken Nymph- size 12 to 18
Bead Head Green Weenie- size 12 to 20

Trout streamers:   Don't really fish streamers for trout.
Wooly Buggers;  three styles, all tied with bead heads
 White River Demon- size 2 to 18
Chili Pepper- size 2 to 18
Catskill Killer- size 2 to 18
Zonkers- size 6  Whatever color rabbit strips I have

Salt Water flies.  Different fish here in the Northeast
I use a lot of my bass and pike flies for salt water.  My pike streamer works just as well in salt water.  Some flies
Lefty’s Deceiver-  size 1 to 4/0
Surf Candies-  size 6 to 4/0  Imitates, silversides, sand eels, bay anchovies(white bait or rain fish)
Clouser Minnow-  Size 1 to 4/0
Bob’s Banger- top water, size 1 to 4/0
Crease Flies- top water,  2 to 4 inches in length.
Flat Wings-  
Bait Fish patterns- tied with artificial or natural materials,  2 to 14 inches long depending on the bait.  Main bait fish, silversides, sand eels, bay anchovies, peanut bunker, large bunker, tinker mackerel, eels.
Shrimp patterns, size 4 to 1
Crab patterns-  to match local crabs.  Size 4 to size 1
 

 

 

 

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Tier,
I’ll give you one type of fly that is a favorite of mind and that’s a flatwing.  I don’t know if they have

been used much in Alaska but they are pretty much effective anywhere.

EE95DE92-A039-48AE-94C9-99396988C8C3.jpeg

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Learn to tie one type really well and find a niche, like wet flies, that you don't see much.  There is a bigger market for jigs, I would think.

Not trying to discourage you at all.  You will have to find a way to distinguish yourself.  Better, faster, cheaper. 2 out of three of these traits.  That is what a shop owner would look for.  By faster, I mean I am out of Lime trudes and need 4 dozen tomorrow. That kind of thing.

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On 4/28/2020 at 11:13 AM, Landon P said:

I beg to differ

I did mean "Most" ... not "All" on the second part of that statement.  In the classes, I can have up to 30 students.  MOST high school grads in these classes expect to get credit for doing MUCH less than acceptable work.  The class runs for 5 hours a day and MOST of them will accomplish 2 hours of work in that time.

On 4/28/2020 at 1:19 PM, TIER said:

Same here. I was fly tying non-stop for an hour and a half.

Sorry, TIER, but "non-stop for an hour and a half" is hobby work.  When you sit there for at least 8 hours, you're doing a days worth of work.

To both of you, I do not mean to insult you, or to infer that YOU are one of the "most" that don't want to work for their share of the pie.  If the shoe fits, accept it and make the needed changes to join the "work force".  If you're already working hard, disregard my opinions and recognize that I am not talking about you.

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I simply, physically, cannot sit in my chair for that long without breaks. If I'm tying for more than 3-4 hours nonstop, my back starts to hurt quite a bit and I start needing to lie down for 15 minutes at a time to let my back realign. I need either a better chair or maybe a standing desk and pad. Maybe I'll commandeer a nice comfy armchair. Any chair recommendations, fly tying wise, that would be good on my back?

 

To be honest, it probably comes from running down the barn aisle carrying 50-pound grain bags on my shoulders two at a time, or a 75 pound haybale in each hand by the strings (which hurts both my hands and my back.) I need to get running and biking again to get back in shape; I haven't been doing much working out this month. I was going to do track again, but school got closed. Track isn't my favorite; I much prefer cross country, but it is something.

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7 minutes ago, samsonboi said:

I simply, physically, cannot sit in my chair for that long without breaks. If I'm tying for more than 3-4 hours nonstop, my back starts to hurt quite a bit and I start needing to lie down for 15 minutes at a time to let my back realign. I need either a better chair or maybe a standing desk and pad. Maybe I'll commandeer a nice comfy armchair. Any chair recommendations, fly tying wise, that would be good on my back?

 

To be honest, it probably comes from running down the barn aisle carrying 50-pound grain bags on my shoulders two at a time, or a 75 pound haybale in each hand by the strings (which hurts both my hands and my back.) I need to get running and biking again to get back in shape; I haven't been doing much working out this month. I was going to do track again, but school got closed. Track isn't my favorite; I much prefer cross country, but it is something.

You sir, are much too young to be complaining about aches and pains. Especially for a farm boy. Geeze😁.

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25 minutes ago, mikechell said:

I did mean "Most" ... not "All" on the second part of that statement.  In the classes, I can have up to 30 students.  MOST high school grads in these classes expect to get credit for doing MUCH less than acceptable work.  The class runs for 5 hours a day and MOST of them will accomplish 2 hours of work in that time.

Sorry, TIER, but "non-stop for an hour and a half" is hobby work.  When you sit there for at least 8 hours, you're doing a days worth of work.

To both of you, I do not mean to insult you, or to infer that YOU are one of the "most" that don't want to work for their share of the pie.  If the shoe fits, accept it and make the needed changes to join the "work force".  If you're already working hard, disregard my opinions and recognize that I am not talking about you.

I'm with you Mike. I am in the position of having to hire young people and I'm sorry to say that the vast majority really don't know how to work, they don't want a job. They want a paycheck but they don't want a job.

Not all of them, but it's very hard to find someone that will work an eight hour day for eight hours pay. I'm talking entry level work for $5.00 an hour over the minimum wage.

If the shoe fits.

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