One fly to rule them all....
...One fly to find them.
One fly to hook them all.
And to my fly line bind them.
From Tolkien, via Buddy Sanders
For the past 4 weeks it has been Deer Hair Caddis from 10 to 16. Each time I go out I tie one on thinking "well it worked last time might as well start where I left off". I have yet to need another dry fly. They are taking during dead drift, and sometimes when it first gets dunked on the swing. I guess the flies just look buggy enough in general, or the fish are conditioned to eat caddis flies whenever they can get one. I have only fished once during visible caddis activity, and they were just about 10 feet above the stream, not touching down that I could see. My other trips have not seen any caddis activity other than my fake one.
Re: One fly to rule them all....
I have better luck with an Adams. It would be the fly i'd pick if I had to have only one.
Re: One fly to rule them all....
I have read that the Adams is an excellent all around mayfly pattern. I just learned how to tie the parachute version, and tied a few for a friend who never could get the hang of tying them. I didn't keep any for myself though. I need to fix that tonight.
Re: One fly to rule them all....
It works pretty good for caddis too. Or just a searching fly.
Re: One fly to rule them all....
The Para Adams is one of my favorite flys.
I've caught fish on it when nothing seemed to be happening.
I think the parachute wound hackle makes the fly look buggy to a fish.
Confidence in a fly is one of the keys to catching fish IMO.
Re: One fly to rule them all....
much as I like the p adams, my one fly would be a griffith's gnat.
Re: One fly to rule them all....
I don't even own any hooks small enough to tie the Griffiths Gnat. I keep looking at it in a Skip Morris' book, and thinking about trying a few, but I have enough trouble with 16s much less 24 and smaller. I must say though that there ALWAYS seem to be tiny flies flitting around the water's surface when I fish, and the trout must be eating them.
Re: One fly to rule them all....
Re: One fly to rule them all....
cdc ant, man, they work good :)
Re: One fly to rule them all....
For me lately it has been a bead head pheasant tail :D