Rebuilding my warmwater fly box

[Chris_in_Louisiana 0]

Hey guys,

In one of those moments of true brilliance earlier this week, I managed to leave my warmwater fly box on my tailgate as I headed home for the day.  As a result, I'm now tasked with rebuilding this collection from scratch and thought I'd turn to the knowledgeable folks here for pattern recommendations.  The lost box contained 200+ flies (streamers, poppers, terrestrials, dries and nymphs), so there's a fair bit of rebuilding to be done.  I know I'll be stocking a portion with my go-to patterns from the past summer, but there's still a fair bit of space for new patterns as a number of the lost patterns rarely produced and don't warrant restocking.

The waters I fish contain bass (largemouth & spotted), a variety of sunfish, catfish, bowfin and pickerel.  If you were restocking for these species, what patterns would you be starting with?

Thanks guys!

Chris

[mikechell 0]

[Mark Knapp 0]

I think some spun deer hair, dragon tails, mop flies and squirmy worms would be in order. Woolly buggers and woolly worms too. Some Clousers and buck tails. And some Chell's blue gill gitters.

[Philly 0]

This is my favorite panfish fly.  It's worked all over the Northeast for me.  Don't see why it would work down south.  For panfish I tie it on size 6 2xl Straight eye streamer hook. The first one is a size 6.  The second one I tied up for bass.  It's tied on either a size 1 or 1/0 hook.

Somebody mentioned mop flies.  Think floating mop flies.  The bass in my Avatar took one.   I initially used a single piece of foam cylinder to float them.  This year I'm switching to a booby/foam dumbbell eye style.  I tied some up on a size 10 Gamakatsu B10S.  Trout size.   I plan to tie the panfish ones on a size 6 B10S and use pieces of 1/4 inch foam cylinder.  This is what they look like.   And a bass size one with a bit of marabou added to the tail.

There's always a floating Woolly Bugger

A

And finally what should be a local pattern for you.  A Calcasieu Pig Boat

 

[Guest]

A few streamers, poppers, frogs, fiber baitfish, and Cdads would be a good start...   One time left mine on boat seat flew out day later guy turned it into store at crossroad.   Guy left his drawer type tackle box on boat launch pier at another lake.  I turned it in to the gals at the gate.   He came back and got it .  Daughter dropped $200 fly rig in on float trip.  Before we got outasight a bait fisherman snagged it.  He gloated about it.  No way to pull over and go back.   I hollared to please put it in my truck at truck park.  Never happened... maybe you’ll get lucky?

[mikechell 0]

Thanks for the shout out, Mark.

[knotjoe 0]

6 hours ago, Chris_in_Louisiana said:

Hey guys,

In one of those moments of true brilliance earlier this week, I managed to leave my warmwater fly box on my tailgate as I headed home for the day. 

😧

Dude, what is it with flyboxes this week?  Here’s where mine is currently at after today’s excursion.  Kicked the heat on for bit to dry the stuff at the floor vent…

Was changing flies and forgot to zip the chest pack, box was closed but hit the rocks perfectly and opened the latch.  Bounce landed right in the water and fully drenched the contents.  No idea how many I lost, but finding out was near impossible in the mossy chuck limestone so I didn’t even bother trying.  Panfish stuff is just way too small to retrieve in that environment so chalked ‘em up as losses.

Here’s a snap of the more essential items, from there I just play with ideas as they come.  I can get by pretty productively on a few basic items so I’ll replace those first in various sizes/weights/colors.  Good supply of indys for me, I peg and suspend often over seedbeds.   I like to have a few "blanks" in jighead form for squirmees and various silicone anemone worms, sometimes use 'em for chamois strips/leeches as well.

Did have a great day whoring out on November ‘gills, crappie, and bass in short sleeves and some topwater, too.

[Poopdeck 0]

I rarely adhere to patterns in other than a general sense but my favorite top three patterns to fish are poppers, Creamers HD craw variants and swimming nymph variants. 

 

[Chris_in_Louisiana 0]

Thanks guys!  That gives me quite a few ideas to start with.  A number of patterns look similar to what I had in there, but there are quite a few things that I can now see were missing from my selection.  I think I may pick a pattern from the list above each week and tie a few up for the new box.  Should have quite a nice selection by the time spring hits.

14 hours ago, denduke said:

maybe you’ll get lucky?

Unlikely, but I do have a bit of hope though as a young game warden stopped and spoke to me shortly before I left.  He seemed to be completely unfamiliar with fly fishing and spent a few minutes asking me about it.  When we finished chatting I referred him to the local club if he wanted to give the sport a try.  He wrote down the club name, so it's possible the box makes its way back to the club if he happened to be the one who found it.  It's a long shot, but who knows...

 

Thanks again everyone.

Chris

[WWKimba 0]

40 minutes ago, Chris_in_Louisiana said:

Thanks guys!  That gives me quite a few ideas to start with.  A number of patterns look similar to what I had in there, but there are quite a few things that I can now see were missing from my selection.  I think I may pick a pattern from the list above each week and tie a few up for the new box.  Should have quite a nice selection by the time spring hits.

Unlikely, but I do have a bit of hope though as a young game warden stopped and spoke to me shortly before I left.  He seemed to be completely unfamiliar with fly fishing and spent a few minutes asking me about it.  When we finished chatting I referred him to the local club if he wanted to give the sport a try.  He wrote down the club name, so it's possible the box makes its way back to the club if he happened to be the one who found it.  It's a long shot, but who knows...

 

Thanks again everyone.

Chris

Hey, what about the Beginner Swaps!

Kim

I know - I'm shameless!

[Chris_in_Louisiana 0]

2 minutes ago, WWKimba said:

Hey, what about the Beginner Swaps!

Kim

I know - I'm shameless!

Haha...Oh I'm looking forward to receiving my streamers.  Those will be the first addition to the new box!

[WWKimba 0]

Just now, Chris_in_Louisiana said:

Haha...Oh I'm looking forward to receiving my streamers.  Those will be the first addition to the new box!

Well I got word from haziz that he got his in Saturday's mail (he's in MA) so i imagine the pony express should hit you by Monday/Tuesday at the latest.  I think  you'll like everyones contributions.  Now about that ranger...

Kim

[RickZieger 0]

Rubber legged dragon and "only".

[Chris_in_Louisiana 0]

5 hours ago, WWKimba said:

Well I got word from haziz that he got his in Saturday's mail (he's in MA) so i imagine the pony express should hit you by Monday/Tuesday at the latest.  I think  you'll like everyones contributions.  Now about that ranger...

Kim

Missed that the first time, Kim.  I'll definitely direct him towards the swap if I run into him again this week.

Chris

[vicrider 0]

Chris, might I suggest you jump in on the Christmas Swap. If you do I have a box with your name it. Fits right into the category you're looking for and would be under your tree for Christmas.

Anyone else posting those great fly pics on this thread should consider this also.

Secret Santa AKA Nick