How many?

[Lotech]

I use 7 of them. The PTN and the X-Caddis are tied for second. The bugger is hands down my favorite fish catcher.

[Bad Luck Larry]

My mainstays always in my box:

DRY..... Adams (parachute and Catskills style); Rusty haystacks (#10-#12); Stimulators (#16) Yellow and bright green; Elk hair caddis (#14-#16) tan/brown

WET....Leadwing coachmen (#12-14); Wooly worms (#14) Black and yellow

NYMPHS....GRHE's (#14-#16) ...you just HAVE to have this nymph! I also have a beaded Stonefly pattern (a bit taken here, a bit taken there) I made myself which does well..tied in a #6-#8

STREAMER.... Wooly buggers...some large, some small. Like the GRHE, can't be beat. Black and Olive my best colours.

MIDGES....cdc/elkhair (#1 Black;...This is great for midges and to simulate emergers.


It always is the case that once you reach water, you'll find that the one thing they're going for...IS THE ONE THING YOU DON'T HAVE! Not only that, I'VE found, that each year brings a different taste to the fish. One year, stoneflies were hot...EVERYWHERE! Fish haven't been as eager since that year, I've found.
But the above are always in my box. They're the reliables. They seem to always help everywhere I go.

You'll find yours, too.

Cheers,
Bad Luck Larry

PS
CDC/elk hair should read size eighteen. Don't know where that happy face came from!

[BlueDun]

My "go to" flies are parachute Adams and pheasant tail nymphs.

Also use San Juan worms (more natural brownish-red color), parachute BWO's, sparkle caddis emerger, and buggers (in brown and olive with grizzly hackle and without the beadhead). I could probably be content with this selection and not use anything else year round.

Since I tie all of these patterns myself (except for the caddis emerger which I plan to try tying this winter), I would also be interested in a similar survey of those who tie their own flies.

[Eight Thumbs]

This list of 25 flies seems to be pretty much a Western Trout fly list which is not surprising given the source of the data (Umpqua Feather Merchants). I suspect that different sources would offer a VERY different top-twenty-five list. I haven't checked Orvis but I would bet that a size#16 parachute Adams is somewhere on that list. No offense intend to you Western guys, those are some great flies. 8T

[JohnScott]

...Since I tie all of these patterns myself (except for the caddis emerger which I plan to try tying this winter), I would also be interested in a similar survey of those who tie their own flies....

Here's a link to a thread you might enjoy - http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/s...ad.php?t=19485

[Clay]

I noticed that the first 11 were dry flies and the other 14 were sub surface flies. I added the list to my favorites, so when I was trying to make some tying decisions this winter, I might choose a couple new ones from the list.

[Crash13]

I use one, the wooly bugger. I primarly warm water fly fish and those don't fill the bill. They could but I have others I prefer.
Wooly bugger
clousers
decievers
other hoppers
sliders
poppers

and the list goes on. Great looking flies, but not for me.

Go catch a fish.

Gary

[Eight Thumbs]

Crash raises another good point about the Umpqua list of the twenty five favorite flies. Not only is the list very Western in flavor, as I suggested earlier, but it is also a very cold-water/trout list as Crash suggests. There is virtually no representation of saltwater fishing and little to no representation of most warmwater fishing though some of those flies could be fished that way in a pinch. I don't recall a single Morris foam fly in the top twenty-five. 8T