Go-to fly patterns for trout?

[MakersTeleMark]

I put some rug hair, probably mine, on a snagging triple barbed rig for shits and giggles and tried to pass it off as the midwestern high runoff trout killer to 2 different uber guides passing by this week. Got some great chuckles, but they wouldn't even barely hold it in their hands. No sense of humor I say.

[I've seen black diamonds!]

Here is one more I've been working on. I'm calling it the Indicaddis since it makes a good indicator even at moderate sizes. I haven't invented anything terribly new, but I have borrowed some techniques that work pretty well together:


I'm not a fan of the elk hair caddis. I think it floats too high, which is fine on faster water, but toss it into flat water and I get more refusals than I'd like. I strongly prefer lower-floating caddis patterns in those situations. But I'm greedy I want one fly that can hold up a dropper in turbulent little pocket, but still ride low and pretty in the frog water. I also want more visibility, especially in smaller sizes. And I don't want something super difficult to tie. Basically, I want the caddis version of of the Parachute Adams. I'd just tie a parachute caddis, but I find those don't work well in moderate or small sizes.

I started with some (not so) rigorous prototype testing:


A clear winner emerged...er...didn't sink (It's really just a CDC + elk hair caddis with a foam-wrapped body and some pink EP fibers so it stands out in the foam line):


2mm Foam:


Wrap it loosely and tie off. A little super glue let you keep it snug with less tension on the wraps:


Tie in 2-3 CDC puffs on the top of each side (so 4-6 total). This give a more caddis-like profile and lets some of the fibers hang below the hook shank as "legs." You can leave the CDC a bit long and trim (or not) later to match the elk hair you'll put on top:




Make an elk hair caddis wing of the usual type- you need a big head! Otherwise the front of the fly will sink. I think it's easier to trim the hair to length before you tie it on. Otherwise you need to use a razor blade to get the bushy head right:


Tie in EP fibers at the front of the wing, then fold the front half back and wrap a few times. I trim off any elk hair that is lower than the hook shank but leave the CDC that hangs down. I have been trimming the CDC to length so it matches the elk hair, but I doubt it matters:


You don't need a lot of EP fibers. When viewed from the bottom they should be pretty much invisible.


Anyway. It floats low but well, is easy to see, has a good profile, and It catches fish. And it gives me something to do while my back is killing me.

Edit to add: make sure you use CDC- friendly floatant. Gink makes CDC wad up. Dry magic works well.

[Meadow Skipper]

Here is one more I've been working on. I'm calling it the Indicaddis since it makes a good indicator even at moderate sizes..

Indicator? That wasn’t what I expected, but great name.

[I've seen black diamonds!]

Indicator? That wasn’t what I expected, but great name.

I checked the internet to make sure the name wasn't taken and was surprised to find no one had claimed it. It deserves a better tyer than me...

By "indicator" I mean that it holds up well as the dry in a dry-dropper set up, especially compared to other flies that float low, have a fairly small profile and don't use any hackle. And it is easy to see. It won't replace your bobber any time soon, though.

Recently I've been doing well fishing a dry dropper on a euro rig. The dry fly fishing has been good near me, but water is high and fast and more often than not I struggle to get a good drift if I put fly line of the water. The spots that are easier to fish see a zillion casts a day while the rest of the river goes mostly untouched. So I'm plunking my flies into pockets a long leader with a long rod with good results. I need a weighted nymph to be able to cast (I'm not casting any fly line at all), but the trout haven't been eating big dries yet. So I need a medium-small fly that can suspend some weight. Also, in the back eddies where a lot of trout are hanging out the fish have plenty of time to check out your fly. It needs to be buggy and not too big.

[stapes]

That’s a winner ISBD! Kinda reminds me of Zimmerman’s Clown Shoe Caddis. Which I believe was invented on similar, if not the same, local water.

And I’m w/ MS. I was thinking indica was the inspiration.

[I've seen black diamonds!]

That’s a winner ISBD! Kinda reminds me of Zimmerman’s Clown Shoe Caddis. Which I believe was invented on similar, if not the same, local water.

And I’m w/ MS. I was thinking indica was the inspiration.

Found a cool article about the clown shoe: https://www.flyfisherman.com/editori...-caddis/152222

Similar water and purpose for sure. His fly is certainly far more original.

I've been fiddling with lighter dropper flies recently. A heavy nymph as a dropper requires a big dry on top. A heavy dropper also tends to slow down the drift of your dry, and forces you to change up your casting stroke. I think this generally results in fewer dry fly eats and casting weight is just less fun.

So a lighter dropper fly sinks more than an emerger but doesn't weigh enough to mess with your drift or cast. I've tried glass beads, brass beads, a few lead wraps, but I think resin bodies work best, maybe with a few lead wraps underneath. They sink and they are light. In comparison a hare's ear sinks slowly and a big one absorbs enough water that you can feel the difference when casting. It's not a disaster or anything, but the resin bodied fly always weighs the same.

The other material that works well for this is partridge. You can add some nice bugginess, but the partridge fibers slow the sink rate less than all the other materials I've tried. Here a couple that have been working for me:

Biot Dome? (goose biot, 16/0 thread, partridge, UV resin):


Platypus Adams? (thread, wire, partridge, a little lead free wire, UV resin):


I like the biots and wire wraps because they create a textured look under a light coat of resin. Do the trout care? I doubt it. But I hate the look of perdigons, which are too boring, even if they work (I use them).

Also, I think I'll smoke some indica this evening, brake out my bag of scrap materials, and see what sort of caddis pattern ends up on my hook.

[The Reverend Floater]

For those of you in hopper/stonefly land, check out Dornan's Water Walkers. The way they sit in the water seems to be super effective.

https://www.slideinn.com/product/dornans-water-walker/

I'd also put in a vote for Two Bit Hookers as my go-to summer dropper. Zebras, emerging drake patterns and good ol rubber legged stone fly nymphs are encouraged.

I also love the X Wing Sparkle Pony on Idaho's freestone rivers. Floats nice and seems pretty irresistible to trout fish.

Finally--if you don't have any dignity and are looking to pile up springtime fish, I would suggest Uncle Juan's Dirty Basement: A bead pegged above a San Juan worm that has a red zebra midge hanging off the worm pattern. It is gross, utterly shameless and totally devastating.



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[teleee]

For those of you in hopper/stonefly land, check out Dornan's Water Walkers. The way they sit in the water seems to be super effective.

[url]https://www.slideinn.com/product/dornans-water-walker/[/url


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This, and I would add to get them in several different colored bodies, my arsenal of water walkers range in all the spectrums available, some days they pound pink body walkers, other days its purple or tan.


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[Percy Rideout]

I live smack dab in Troutlandia (walking distance to the lower Gallatin) and know a lot of really good/old fly fisherman. What I have noticed is the really good fisherman have a few (12 or so) patterns but in many different sizes.

This was the best advice that a long time guide passed along when looking into his boxes one day. My catch rate has improved by going to same bug/smaller size when something i know should be eaten gets refused.

Central CO here, you can never have enough RS2's in different sizes and colors.

[::: :::]

Anyone like a particular pattern for dead/spent caddis?

[plugboots]

Anyone like a particular pattern for dead/spent caddis?

I started to search for it, but my favorite is pattern I got at the trout shop in Craig. They use a material that looks like wax paper for the wings and they flatten out.
My favorite cripple is E C or variation

[The Reverend Floater]

Cellophane dun.

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[Rasputin]

Well I'm no expert, and my experience is limited to my frequent outings over the last year (3-5 days a week except during winter and run-off), but there are certain patterns, or types of patterns which I've come to trust.

The Renegade (dry). I have caught most of my biggest cutthroats on these, and probably more fish than any other dry fly. They don't really match any hatch, but apparently trout think they look like food fairly often. I've had luck with them in all sizes I've thrown, from #10 to #16, and will often work during hatches as well as between them.

Small orange Stimulators seem to draw attention from fish big and small, both between hatches, and when hatches are of remotely similar colors. I bought some from FlyShack.com (I can't say that their flies are high quality), which were relatively sparsely hackled, and they turned out to be more broadly effective than larger, bushier stimulators I've used.

CDC emergers (with sparkle tail). I've used mostly peacock (I got a slew of them cheap, from the clearance section at a sporting goods store), but purple, tan, and gray ones have also done well.

Sparkle Duns, and Caddis X. Both of these have the sparkle type tails, which fish seem to love (I gather from more learned commentary, because they look like a shuck). The tail also has the bonus of providing a more visible profile, which is helpful in smaller sizes, especially for folks with poor vision like me.

Of course, Parachute Adams works in a variety of situations, including recently, in #16 or smaller, during trico hatches (they've been even better than trico spinners). I'd add in Purple Hazes, which are just Parachute Adams with a purple body (both the regular and flashy types are great).

For indicator bugs, I like Chubby Chernobyls, easy to see, will float a weighted dropper nymph, imitate stones and hoppers, and fish of all sizes will check them out if not attack. Tan, and purple/black have been productive colors.

And nymphs, on sunny days I've done well with rainbow warriors. Red brassies have teased bigger fish even in pretty small sizes. I also like olive zebra midges, though I've always heard black is a staple.

Edit: I forgot Griffiths gnats, hard to see sometimes, but trout seem to love them.

[Skirotica]

My go to is always a stimulator. 12 or 14. Always gets at least a look before I can figure out what is hatching.
i've had a lot of luck with green and black nymphs this season. 16 or 18

[I've seen black diamonds!]

I had foot surgery 10 days ago. Can't ski/fish/bike/run so I've been tying. Didn't do much tying during the fall and it took some time to shake the rust off, but I'm getting the feel for it again. I've mostly been cranking out some of my favorite winter patterns that I'm low on:



I caught more on these gaudy things last winter than any imitation:



I'm trying griffith's gnat with a hi vis post this year. Hope it works:



I've also been messing around with easy ways to tie extended body mayflies. I think they look great, but I don't like tying flies that I'm scared to lose because they take 30 minutes to tie. I'm allergic to overly complicated patterns. But I'm a big fan of patterns tha look awesome but are quick to tie. I stole a promising idea from an old Italian dude name Agostino Roncallo. I started by copying his pattern called the Mirage:



Awesome name. Awesome look. You tie it all from a single CDC feather in just a few minutes. Doesn't float. At all. I tied another one with a second feather to add a few thorax wraps and thicken the wing. It floats but doesn't look as good. Maybe I need to tie it on a smaller hook (I used a 2x short 16).

Then I tried using the same extended body technique of a parachute style fly. It worked okay but the taper looked a bit funny. I'll keep fiddling with it because the technique itself is quick and pretty easy.

[Rasputin]

I caught more on these gaudy things last winter than any imitation:

They look spot on for the Clark Fork currently. From the Kingfisher fly shop report 12/11:

For your bottom fly, try a rainbow warrior, flashy perdigon, or cdc collared duracell.

[I've seen black diamonds!]

^^^^ Coming your way soon. Perdigons are next on the list. They're boring but fish don't care and they sure sink.

[Rasputin]

^^^^ Coming your way soon. Perdigons are next on the list. They're boring but fish don't care and they sure sink.

The first time I saw a perdigon, I was skeptical that what looked to me like a colored hook, could catch fish, but the fish didn't agree with my assessment.

[Rasputin]

I've been using the Nothshore stonefly nymph to great effect lately. 37 fish landed in four wintry outings. Two other big fish broken off. They must look like something the fish are eating, both big and small fish, both trout and whitefish.

[I've seen black diamonds!]

Getting ready for tiny mayfly season:



Small flies seem to be beyond the capability of my phone. In addition to focusing poorly, it distorts the colors. The shuck on this fly is light brown and much thinner than it looks. Anyone have any tips?

[::: :::]

Put a medium colored fabric behind it to give it a neutral background
Not on the vice, but you get the idea

Here’s one

[I've seen black diamonds!]

^^^^ Cool. I'll give it a try.

[stealurface831]

nice quill work. i can't wrap without breaking them for the life of me.

on thread topic:

film critic
purple haze
henneberry hopper
barr's
size 20 flashback pheasant tail
cdc rainbow warrior
parrot head
hunchback
cdc golden stone
BDSM (big dumb sparkle minnow)
big byrd
mini t bone and buford
big secret cricket
the charlie craven yellow jacket thing
thunder grass
double deceiver
radiation baetis
fat angie
sisu
hot spot hares ear
tungstone
sid

[stealurface831]

also some sort of snail pattern. znail, maybe? the umpqua one.

[I've seen black diamonds!]

nice quill work. i can't wrap without breaking them for the life of me.

That's a turkey biot, not a quill, but they pose similar challenges and have a similar solution:

Soak them in water before you tie them in. Quills and biots you get at a fly shop are dried out and brittle, especially if they're dyed. If you soak them for a bit they become more flexible and crack less (they still crack. It also helps to put super glue on your thread base before you wrap them.

Here is a split wing quill body:


I also use Canada goose biots from feathers I find around. These aren't nearly as brittle, but they don't have the same dark edge as a turkey biot and they only come in grey.

This little parachute is hard to tie, but you can see it: