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It seems that most dry fly dressings, whether for collar or parachute style flies, call for hackle that matches the wing, not the legs, of an insect, and that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Shouldn't hackle be either a match for a bug's legs or be as invisible as possible (as in a pale dun) so that its only purposes are aerodynamic, stability, and, perhaps, to create dimples on the waters surface?
A dry fly moving along in the current is not going to give the fish a whole lot of time to determine if the legs are the right color or not. If the fish is feeding, he will more than likely hit the fly no matter what color the legs are. Just my opinion only. Trout are not the smartest fish we fish for, but, they definately know the difference between something that looks alive and something that does not. If the fly looks alive,( has movement) they will probably hit it. Just my one cent worth on this topic.
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Warren
I have to agree that the color is not extremely important, however I try to stick to basics. I do believe through trial and error, that the way the legs are tied on makes a big difference (silhouette is the important thing) Hackle tied parachute or like a lions mane (wulff) or a feather stretched across the back of the fly to get the right look to a fish below.
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she who dies with the most toy's wins.
Alex,
In that all the light in the world comes from above the water's surface, I would think that the number of wraps of hackle, and the stiffness of the hackles would have more to do with the accurate footprint of the fly than the color. When a fish looks up at the viscous layer (surface tension) of water and sees a fly, it is really looking at the footprint the fly makes in the surface tension. So, with the light coming from above, color would have less to do with triggering a strike than appearance.
I can't believe I just gave Alex Argyros advise on tying flies. HOLY MACKEREL!
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Life, is the time He gave you to determine where you want to spend eternity.
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Lotech Joe
If your'e going after male dry flys it should be beige colored with a black shiny tip. (Stocking colored) And if its females youre going for the color doesnt matter, just that it should be thick around the area where he would carry his wallet.
This subject depends on to many things to give just one answer. If you are fishing Freestone type of streams then color does not seem to matter as much as it would on slow moving spring creeks. But then again I have had fish on spring creeks take flies with colors that are not right. So I guess you would have to say that it depends on the hatch and how the fish feel at the time you are fishing over them.
I tend to try and stay with the colors that I feel match the fly the best. If a person says that color dosen't matter then they have not fished much in my view. I have watched to many times as fish turned down fly after fly tied the same style and then take a fly with the color just a shade different. Now did the light coming through that color matter? Or was it just the color that the fish wanted? Or was the presentation just right?
In my opinion it just dosen't matter that much if you are fishing an attractor pattern but if you are fishing to a fish that is on a hatch it can matter a lot.
I carry flies tied the same but for the color in a few patterns and I have found at times it can matter to the fish I am fishing to which color I use. It sure dosen't hurt to be prepaired. Ron
I'm with Ron on this one. In my opinion all of the colors in a pattern are a distant fourth on the list of importance, and on fast or murky water they probably don't matter at all. But I can also tell you from experience that it does matter sometimes. Usually, as Ron said, it's on slow moving gin clear spring creeks. I have two rivers in particular near me where a fish does not just rise to a fly and eat it. They rise, then swim along underneath of it examining the fly, then eat it or refuse it. I have many times been fishing what I felt was the correct pattern in the correct size with no takes but many refusals. I stay with the exact same pattern and size, but change the color and, wham.
Jeremy
[This message has been edited by JeremyH (edited 25 February 2006).]
One more thing, here's a better question for you. If hackle represents legs and a dun's legs are attached to their thorax why do so many people tie a big bulging thorax below the hackle on their parachute patterns? Aren't we effectively telling the fish that this particular bug has his legs attached 1/4 of the way up his wings?
Jeremy
Hey Fank- I do believe that at times fish can and do turn down flies because the color is off even on real small flies. A parachute Adams is not a hatch matching fly it is what I would call a searching pattern. It dosen't imatate anyone thing but may look like several things. And yes I have seen fish flat turn them down.
I should say here that when I tie Parachute Adams in small sizes I just use the Grizzly hackle and do not even put the brown hackle on the fly. I find the fish don't seem to care much. They do work well on a Baetis hatch at times. I also believe that the grizzly hackle makes the fly look like it is moving and that draws takes. Ron