Articulated

[Fly Goddess]

My question, does Articulated flies catch more fish? I know Kelly Galloup has some killer patterns, but I caught a bunch of fish on his NON articulated.
What say you all?

[Longs for Cutts]

More, no.

Bigger, yes.

My most consistently productive big fish fly when fishing on my own is a #4-4 olive Circus Peanut

[bgreer]

I agree with Mr. Wiese.

The articulated flies are geared towards bigger fish. Kind of like a "hero or zero" approach.

After the spawn on the White R. in Arkansas, hundreds of fly fishers invade the waters.
There are lots of fish to be caught. Several of my friends drift, only throwing big streamers, looking for big fish.
The numbers of fish the catch is not great, but they do get some nice fish to the boat.

Big bait for big fish.

Having said that, I will say that really big fish are caught on small flies, too.
One morning, below Bull Shoals Dam, I saw a guy catch 3 trout each over 10 lbs, using a #16 or #18 fly.

[Fly Goddess]

I know the biggest fish I have caught are on very small flies, but that is mostly stillwater.
However the 20+" Browns I catch in the river are on a #18 Copper John or Pheasant tails...with Glow Bugs mixed in.

[whatfly]

A key point missing in the discussion so far, is that articulated flies solve several problems, the additional movement of the fly being only one feature. One can read Galloup's and others writings to get all the details, but a key feature to me is that you can tie a bigger fly and still use a short shank hooked. This is a very useful advantage when fighting bigger fish, in my opinion. Galloup-style patterns (should we call this the "Michagan School" of streamers?), are only one small group of articulated patterns that have become popular. The steelhead crowd has been making use of articulated patterns for a while now with great effect, and I even know of a group of fishers that swear by articulated midges (yes, I know that one makes me wonder too).

In some ways the OP's question is akin to the age old question, do new patterns catch more fish than old patterns? Odd how often this topic crops up...

[hap]

The advantage of short shanked hooks when fighting fish should not be overlooked... it is huge.

Also, articulated flies allow you to produce a profile as large as you could possibly need in a castable package.

Carrie Stevens classic patterns work extremely well to imitate salmon smolts for rainbows and lake trout. Landing them on long shank hooks is often a challenge though and the condition of the hooks after a fish or two is almost laughable... But articulating them changes the game completely...

It is tough to match large leeches, lamprey, and chunks of flesh in unarticulated form and make them both castable and able to keep the fish on the hook.

But, too, there are many successful contrarians rolling size 12 nymphs under spawning salmon to catch the huge rainbows hanging behind them.

[Buddy Sanders]

I agree with the above.

'Articulated' flies allow you to build larger flies with better hook-up to landing ratios.

Dont' see any better 'action' on such flies.

Buddy

[hap]

Buddy
Local fly shop has a tank and there will often be a group standing around as a new pattern is taken for a swim... I disagree with you that you cannot get more action out of an articulated fly... There is a lot to how they work and articulated flies tied on jig hooks look different in the water than the same tied on a straight shank, for example...

I believe you can get more and different action with articulated flies.

Not sure that translates into more fish though!
art

[Uncle Jesse]

My experience with soft plastic lures on spinning and casting tackle tells me motion does help catch fish. The Mr. Twister plastic worm and the Sassy Shad grub both resulting in catching more fish than I would with straight bodied plastic worms and grubs.

[WarrenP]

In reference to this subject: You might want to check your Trout Regulations to be sure that an articulated fly is legal. Maybe this reg is only in Tennessee, but, it would not hurt to check your regs. For instance, on the Cherokee Wildlife Management Area here in Tenessee, the regs state: "Only single-hook artificial lures and flies are permited. Use or possession of multiple hook lures, or bait is prohibited. One single-hook lure separated from a legal lure by a length of line (e.g. a dropper fly) is also permitted."

There are 18 rivers/creeks in this area that are under these regs.