It struck me one morning while I was sucking down my second double capuccino and re-reading Haig-Brown, that I have way too many flies. He urged simplicity and warned against a “…multiplicity of flies, beautifully sorted into elegant boxes…” that become a burden “…with the weight of them.” Indeed, I do have a number of fly boxes and my flies are sorted by types which are likely to be used together. I keep these boxes in my fishing vehicle, stuffed into an old shoe box to keep them from sliding around. I went out to the car, brought them in and counted up.
I have fifteen fly boxes containing no fewer than 175 different patterns!
I define a “pattern” as being of a specific form, as distinct from size or color. Thus: two nymphs, one with a bead head and one without, as may be the case with Prince nymphs, are two different patterns. Two flies that vary only in color or size are the same pattern. I have one box containing only stimulators. These range in size from #8 to #16, with body colors of yellow, red or orange. There are over one hundred stimulators in that box, but I count them as only one pattern. Similarly, I have sixteen color variations in my elk-hair caddis collection and all kinds of variation in size. Again, these are all one pattern.
How many of these do I really need?
I often visit a well-stocked, modern fly fishing shop owned by a friend of mine who I will call Juan (the name is changed to protect the guilty.) Juan is also one of the most well-known and sought-after guides in our area. The shop has a series of beautifully made cases with glass tops and neat little drawers displaying hundreds of different fly patterns. I asked Juan how many fly patterns he had available there and he guessed that there were something short of four hundred. My comment was that for most of my fishing I get by with only six or eight of them.
Juan looked around the shop to see that we were alone, then said: “You could get by with four if you knew what you were doing.”
This is important information, especially for beginning fly fishermen. A beginner may visit several shops or order flies from catalogs, without knowing how to evaluate the hundreds of fly choices available. The choices are bewildering. He may rely on advice from friends, articles in magazines or suggestions from shop clerks and end up buying a large number of flies of marginal value. At two bucks a pop, this can be more of a burden than Haig-Brown had in mind.
Similarly, a beginning fly tier must acquire the materials and tools needed to tie useful patterns. But which ones? Most beginners will buy a book or two on fly tying, many advertised as illustrating something like “…how to tie a thousand dry fly patterns.” A thousand flies seems a bit excessive. Often the temptation is to try to tie something well-known, like an Adams, or something pretty such as a Royal Wulff. One can accumulate quite a mountain of materials trying to tie these only to find that a half dozen of some flies can be a lifetime supply. They simply aren’t that useful. If the novice tier can limit his efforts to learning just a few useful patterns his “practice makes perfect” on those few will limit the materials he has to buy to get started. The repetitive work of tying these few patterns, in their various colors and sizes is good training. It may also improve his fishing.
We can waste a lot of money on flies that will see little use. We clutter the boxes that we take to the water with a lot of useless stuff.
Over the years I have kept notes on stream conditions, what has worked and what has not. Looking back I realize that I have relied on a few flies over and over. I have one fly box that I take no matter where I fish. Before leaving the car I transfer to it a good number of those favorite flies and I carry them in great numbers, so I can lose them and not get caught short, thus, the hundred stimulators and caddis imitations. Since I fish most often in southwestern Colorado, my fly box reflects what works there. My Southwest Colorado fly box contains ten patterns, and I’ve listed them for you.
The Southwest Colorado Fly Box
Nymphs
Bead Head Prince #12-16
Pheasant Tail #12-18
Hare’s Ear #12-16
Copper John #10-16
Stonefly (yellow and dark) #8-12
Dries
Stimulators (yellow and red) #10-16
Caddis (small and dark for the Animas, otherwise tan or brown) #12-20
Adams #16-18
Others
Wooly Buggers (black and olive) #8-12
Caddis Larva (brown, yellow, green)
This set of ten seems to work well in most places in the western US, and I have found that several are universal. When I travel to places that have trout, the flies I take with me are usually these same ones. When I take them to Montana or to the Sierras, they work well. I have had luck with the Pheasant Tail, Prince Nymphs and the Adams in such far-flung places as Lithuania, Chile and South Africa. Fly fishers in other regions are likely to favor different patterns, yet I suspect that there would be considerable overlap should we all compare our favorite ten.
My ten patterns include an Adams. Originally I included both Pale Morning Duns (PMDs) and Blue-winged Olives (BWOs), making my list a list of twelve. However, these are mayflies, and all can be tied in the same pattern. They differ only in color. Tying a PMD or BWO instead of an Adams requires only a change of color, not a change in form and therefore I count them as one pattern. I list the Adams as the most useful of these mayflies.
Within the small group of flies that work most often there is some variation, and variation usually means variation in both pattern and complexity. Even when we work with only ten flies our tying task requires choices. Most often I choose simplicity. For example, a Prince Nymph can be tied with or without a bead. Adding the bead takes a bit more work, so is it necessary? I think it helps. Among caddis flies there are several kinds of wing treatments: elk or deer hair wings are most common, but some wings are of CDC, duck or goose feather. I tie most of my caddis without hackle: just a dubbed body and hair wing. They float low in the water and seem to work as well as more elaborate patterns. My imitation of caddis larva is extremely simple: a dubbed (or yarn) body, green, yellow or tan, ribbed with copper wire, and a bead head on a #12-16 hook. It has no tail, thorax, wings or hackle. It is my experience that if the trout are hitting on one of their favorite insects the simplest pattern for that fly works as well as the elaborate ones. Presentation is so important that whether the fly has fancy wings counts for little. If it is well presented it will work no matter how pretty it looks.
My ten flies do not include what I think of as “specialized flies”, designed for very specific but limited circumstances. For example, some of our rivers have a green drake hatch. These hatches are not often, but when they occur you should have available some big green drakes (about a size 10), though if you stick to my list of ten, toss the trout a big Adams. Similarly, during the salmon fly hatch, which lasts only about ten days on most rivers, a good salmon fly imitation is useful; at other times it is not. Caught short without a salmon fly imitation, cast out the biggest stimulator you have. On hot summer days when hoppers are around, cast a big stimulator along the bank. Other specialized flies are needed on waters that are unique. Tail waters usually demand a specialized fly collection. I fish the San Juan often, and the tiny midges used there are not usually the fly of choice elsewhere.
In a pinch, I could pare my collection even further. A Copper John is almost the same shape as a Prince Nymph and for me it seems to substitute for one. The Pheasant Tail is much like the Hare’s Ear nymph. Stimulators have a “caddis-like” wing and can substitute for caddis if they are of comparable sizes. Stimulators have the added advantage of appealing to trout that are looking for adult stoneflies, spruce flies or hoppers. When trout are chowing down on PMDs or BWOs a well-presented Adams is likely to appeal to them too. The collection then falls to the six flies that I had in mind when discussing this with Juan:
Pheasant Tail Nymph
Copper John
Stonefly Nymph
Stimulators
Adams
Wooly Bugger
And, if I really knew what I was doing, I would go with only: Copper Johns, Stimulators, Adams and black Buggers.
Do I usually go fishing with so few flies? Nah! What fly fisherman can resist taking along a few dozen other patterns that just might just do the trick on any particular day, and one more small box of these is not too burdensome. Nevertheless, one small box is always well stocked with the few flies that I rely on most often.
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Price: $6.95 for each issue
The Premiere issue is ready for shipping & the Fall 2008 issue will be available September 1st.
