Your article is great and your web site is even better. Thank you for
sharing it with us.
I did one year of University biology in addition to all the other courses.
But I cannot remember all the taxonomy stuff, and do NOT carry a PDA/books
or other device in my vest to help identify flys or nymphs at the stream
side. I can identify the basic flys and just try to match by color or size
to what I have in my fly boxes.
My question is with your excellent knowledge do you catch more fish than your
friends who are not as well educated as you in entomology. Just look
at an Adams fly. With tan, olive, brown body and in different sizes
this works and catches fish. I believe that no drag and excellent
presentation of the fly are very very important factors to catch fish.
Often before a distant trip, I get hatch charts, but it is the basic caddis
ie elk hair etc that seem to work.
What would be the handful of your more successful flies that you use in
different geographic areas that you rely on catching fish?
Any comment please.
Thank you
for the kind words.
As I’m sure
you realize, the number (or size) of fish one has the opportunity to release
is a function of one’s skill in the many facets of flyfishing. Some of
my friends have better overall flyfishing skills. On the other hand, being
able to share my interest in entomology with other flyfishers is extremely
rewarding to me.
A handful
of patterns I find particularly effective are:
-
Royal Wulff as a
searching pattern for western freestone streams when no emergence
activity is apparent
-
Comparadun for
stillwater mayfly dun imitation
-
Elk Hair Caddis for
western freestone stream adult caddisfly imitation
-
Chan’s Sedge Emerger
for stillwater caddisfly emerger imitation, particularly the Traveler
Sedge
-
Stimulator for western
freestone stream adult stonefly imitation
-
Ice Cream Cone or Snow
Cone for stillwater chironomid pupa imitation
As you may
deduce from the above list, I flyfish for trout and lean toward use of adult
or emerger (rather than larval) imitations. This is certainly not because
dry fly fishing is more productive; it’s just what I enjoy doing.