Fly selection

I am sure it is posted or in a article but after an hour of looking i cant find any lists or ideas of flys that you should start off with or always carry.

Since i am starting with no stock if you would put in your 2cents on the subject that would be great. I will be fishing small streams in arizona including oak creek, verde river and some of the white mountian lakes. If you have experience in these areas or know what type of selection i should start with let me know. Sizes and color variations also if possible.

Now I know i need to talk to the "local shops" but like i have said before i have one in town and the only person that has a clue is the owner and he doesnt fish much locally anymore.

thanks for any help

Hey Baggy..........what will you be fishing for? It helps determine what you should be armed with http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/wink.gif

Here's a dozen necessary flies:

2 - #10 Harrassers

2 - #10 BH Prince

2 - #12 BH Prince

2 - #14 BH Prince

2 - #16 Infamous pink worm

2 - #18 Infamous pink worm

Lol sorry guess that would help. 'bows and browns mainly for the streams and small mountian lakes. I will also be doing some white bass and small largemouth this summer but think ill have to ask around the lake and see what most people are using for them.

Sunken minnow immi's should do you well for both basses. I would think floating minnow immi's, floating frog immi's and top-water "worm" immi's would be the most fun for the largemouth's....sized to match your gear.
....lee s.

For the creeks you'll need pheasant tail nymphs in sizes 16-20. Brassies #18-22, RS-2's in #18-22 and hare's ear nymph's in the same sizes. For dries, CDC & Elk, House & Lot Variants and parachute Adams all in #14-16 (go down to #18 or #20 on the parachute adams).

I don't know those streams, but I like the good Dr's list. I would add wooly buggers in black, olive, brown and white and clousers for subsurface and a variety of poppers at least chart. and black for the bass.

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Fish more, work less!

Baggyman
Your profile doesn't show your location. One shop? Are you IN the White Mtns, Phx Metro, or Tucson?

Each lake has it's own favorites. There is a book on the lakes up here.....wht mtns.....written by Mike Yeager called "Flies of the Southwest". He doesn't fish streams. But the book is strictly the flies he uses in the lakes up here...with color pics and the tying material list. These would not be the ONLY flies that would have a chance at catching fish. But it is the flies he has, by 28 years of experience....developed for up here. IF you live up here you can go to Pinteop Sporting Goods and get the little book from Lyle....a local shop owner with fly fishing eq and fly tying material....but does not fish? Your shop perhaps? Anywhooo...you can get any big book store to order it. Flies I have seen catch big fish at Silver Creek:
Elk Hair Caddis
Zug Bug
Purple Semi Seal Leech
Flies I have caught over 100 15"+ trout at Silver Creek with:
KP Bugger Dark
Yeagerburger
Black Wooly Worm

Gem
If you intend to fish lakes up here...we have a club with an outing once a month on a lake. Attending the outings are free. It's a pot luck. You bring what you want to eat plus something to share. They provide the grills to cook your food on and paper plates and plastic utensils. I can post the next one if they broadcast it in soon enough. You are welcome to join us. We show up that day at various times. But we all come in off the lake because chow is ALWAYS at 12Noon. Then some go back out to fish, some go home. No big deal or pressure of any kind.

I recommend the Griffith's Gnat in sizes 18 and 16 - worked for me my first time trout fishing. Remember to use fine tippets, 7X or less and maybe Froghair brand.



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There's almost nothin' wrong with the first lie, it's the weight of all the others holdin' it up that gets ya'! - Tim

Never leave home without a well stocked box of Midges, terrestrials in the warmer months,a selection of the Cahill series of flies(Light,Dark ECT...... both wet and dry and a box of Nymph's even a basic selection that covers many colors suggestively will do..such as phesanttails and hares ears....

With just those flies you can do very well almost any where.....

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"I've often wondered why it is that so many anglers spend so much money on,and pay so much attention to.the details on the wrong end of the fly line.If they took as much care in selecting or tying their flies as they did in the selection of the reel and rod,They might be able to gain the real extra edge that makes it possible to fool a fish that has,in fact,seen it all before" A.K.Best

Everyone wants to excel in this sport but at the same time we let traditionalists place restrictions on our tactics, methods, and ideas. I always assumed that fly fishing was a sport that allowed imagination, creation, adaptation, investigation, dedication, education, revelation? : Fox Statler, On Spinners (Not the dainty Dry Fly kind) "Spinner'd Minner Fly"

"Wish ya great fishing"

Bill