S***, another sleepless night...
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S***, another sleepless night...
dollfly....
<running and ducking>
When I saw the first post on this that the Royal Coachman was the answer to, my only thought was that these foreign countries that tie these flies probably had a few million of them tied up in their factories years ago after seeing one on the cover of a Dan Bailey catalog and they were still so overstocked with them that they figured they would create a buying frenzy by putting out a fake poll.
As far as Wally World goes our super center here has very few flies and last year when chatting with the counter guy there while getting my fishing license he said FF stuff does not sell well at all. He said he actually sells far more ice fishing gear than FFing.
Lefty's Deceiver, because of so very much PR and articles on it and because it can be used for so many types of fish , I can believe a lot more than a Royal Coachman. Plus Lefty is an Icon! By the way, he still looks great and will still keep you laughing with his stories. Our own 'Charlie' brought him to the Danbury show from the airport last weekend .
I have never seen an EMPTY Royal Coachman bin in any fly shop! Come to think of it I can't remember the last time while hanging around a fly shop, (and I do a lot of that), that I even recall someone purchasing one. They are certainly not a 'Bass' or 'Saltwater' fly....
Usually customers look at the "Hatch" board outside the shop and and pick out a few of whatever is hatching.
New FFers usually buy 'one' of these and 'one' of those and seeing this I will often helpfuffly suggest they should always buy at least 3 of any pattern. One will be lost to a fish or a snag , the second a backup and the third as either another backup or so they can remember just what fly they did well on the last trip.
I was also amazed that there were so many Copper John answers...must be a Western thing. I know a lot of fishermen who tie their own flies, still have to buy a few on a trip and don't mind spending a couple of bucks each for a nice March Brown or Coffin Fly but shiver at the idea of paying for a hook with a little wire and herl on it.
Wooley bugger would have been my guess for both of these posts only because it can be used all year round and although I have often seen empty Red Quill , March Brown, Coffin Fly and Iso bins, that only happens for a few weeks or a maybe a month while the hatch is still on.
I wonder just who they are selling RC's to?
But a great post none the less that drew a lot of participation.
[This message has been edited by mantis (edited 12 January 2006).]
In the 60's I had a Gadabout fly rod and Royal coachman where in the package of flies I purchased. The only thing I caught bass fishing with them was my nose.
What is the most widely fished fly with success in Bass, Gills, Trout, Steelhead, Notherns.
Philip
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If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles." - Doug Larson
I'm not surprised about the Lefty's Deceiver. In saltwater I keep my fly selection down to just a few. I would say I use a Deceiver about 80% of the time. In saltwater fly fishing there is probably only a handful a well known flies. The Lefty's Deceiver is definitely at the top of the heap as far as name recognition goes.