A question for you FAOL’ers in the Northeast (PA, NY, etc.)…My own experience has been that flashback-style nymphs, copper johns, and other subsurface trout flies with “flash” don’t seem to work nearly as well here in the NorthEast as they do out West. What’s your experience been? If “flashy” works for you, which patterns?
Thanks,
PRM:)
hare ears and ptns, thats about all sub surface flies i fish with flash, and all i use is Shane Stalcups material…cuz i like it.
I live in Maryland and have pretty good success with hares ears with gold flash for the wingcase instead of the traditional style. Never did have much success with copper johns.
Rodney
I fish in PA and have enjoyed the most success with a hares ear flashback; an olive flashback has worked on occasion. As for Cooper Johns, I have fished them on occasion but have not found them productive. That may be because I am not using them correctly.
Last Friday in Ontario, Canada I caught two rainbows on a Lightnening Bug - thought it was the answer, then nothing. Switched to a Sawyer/Wulff grey nymph (NO FLASH) and caught 8 more. The day was sunny a bright and the water was clear. A couple or 3 more on a wet fly (dark/dull) variety. My buddies did not use flash either and caught about 12 each also.
Copper John’s work with various timing down here in Texas… When the water is clear they will sometimes work below a hopper in the fall… if they aren’t working a zebra midge will probably work in either red or black. If neither of those are working I go with a soft hackle (flashback or not) and swing them in the current… this will generally always get the bites.
PRM,
When all else fails I like to use a black woolly bugger with about 4-6 strands of flash added to the tail and then twisted and wound up the body between the chenille wraps to the hook eye. Has worked on just about anything I’ve fished for including warm water fishies. Caught a nice “bugle mouth bass” once while bouncing one on the bottom. It’s what my mother-in-law called a sucker or carp.
In PA/NJ I can count the number of fish I’ve caught on the Copper John on one hand in the past 10 years or so. A basic hares ear with a little pearl flash wingcase does very well though:^)
Could be that the flash fly pattern work better when there is cloud cover, that dimishes the brightness of the flash material. In clear water, on a bright sunny day, there just maybe too much brightness. Just a thought! ~Parnelli
I’ve had great success fishing Black Copper Johns on streams in PA & WVA. Seems to be a great fly, especially for stocked fish. Black Copper Johns were the go to fly on a recent trip the South Central PA streams the first week of May. Bead Head Hares Ears and Pheasant Tails with flash have also been a very successful combo for me as well. I also do quite well on epoxy back nymphs, don’t know that these qualify as flashbacks but the bubble over the wing case seems to work for me.
Me too! I just can’t land any fish on Copper Johns here in west/central, PA. I like 'em, have tied 'em, but they just don’t do well on the waters I fish. When you’re talking Hare’s Ear are you speaking of the regular light gray offering or a diffferent color dubbing? When the water is low and clear I go for less shine on my flies.
Thanks,
Bruce
I tie the flashbacks with the natural Haretron Hares Mask…and add the 2-3 strands of pearl flashabou over top of the peacock wingcase.
I only tie one FB, that being a GRHE beadhead.
The only FB material I use and swear by is Lagartun Mini Flatbraid. I like pearl but other colors are available.
I fish my FB-BH-GRHE extensively, mostly in SE, NE, SC & NC Pennsylvania with fantastic results. I never bothered tying other nymphs that way because quite frankly, I don’t need to. The stream type, size, time of day, time of year, cloud cover or lack thereof, water temp or anything else seems to matter. The fish just seem to like them the way I fish them which is cast straight upstream in runs or pools, 1-5 feet deep under an indicator and almost NEVER dragging the bottom with most fish caught when the fly is a foot ABOVE the bottom.
It may defy conventional nymphing logic but fish don’t read.
I think Parnelli nailed it. A lot of the success of a given fly has to do with the conditions and timing. The other day we were on a local spring creek and were striking out with our regular patterns. The day was bright and sunny, the water is crystal clear. As soon as the clouds rolled in I hollered for everyone (we were all taking a break together) to get back on the water and the flashback Pheasant-tail nymphs and the flashy scud patterns began to knock them dead. I always carry beadheads, beadhead flashbacks, and regular non-bead or non-flashback of the species of nymphs present in the waters I fish and fish them according to the type of day and season I find myself in.
Kelly.
Any chance you could post a pic, Bamboozle? I might feel a little guilty catching a lot of fish on it with my wood rods, but I suppose I could swallow my pride!
Chuck
Unfortunately I can’t seem to get the hang of the macro thing but I’ll keep trying. 
There is really nothing special about it. It’s a standard Bead Head Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear nymph except that I like to use yellow Ultra Wire instead of gold tinsel and I like to add legs made of dark partridge instead of just picking out the thorax fibers.
Lagartun Mini Flat braid makes up the wing case. Mini Flatbraid comes on a spool and is micro strands of Mylar, like Flashabou except those micro strands are woven into a flat braid about 1/16" wide. It is extremely flexible, more so than the normal single strand 1/8" wide or smaller plain Flashabou, it ties in great and makes a terrific looking wing case because it is so flexible. It is made up of multiple strands of Mylar so it seems to give off a bit more flash like a diamond with multiple facets. It is also durable as heck.
It comes in a bunch of colors although I mostly use pearl, black & olive for wing cases. It’s not the easiest stuff to find but it is distributed by Hareline so just about any fly shop should have access. It’s also not the cheapest flash out there. I’ve been using it for at least 7 years and I think it is the best flash back wing case material I ever used.
Bam, do you use only one strand of the braid for the flashback…or multiple?
Duck:
One strand only and I tie a lot of flashback nymphs in size 10. It’s really all that’s needed IMHO. Maybe if you were going to tie a size 4 or something you might want more than one strand but who knows.
Another thing I do is when tying the Flatbraid off at the head, I pull it over the thorax, tie it down at the head with a couple of wraps, fold it back over itself and do a few more wraps over the folded braid before cutting it off. After I cut it off I do a few wraps to cover the cut off end, whip and add a drop of head cement. Sometimes with beadhead I also dub a really sparse amount of dubbing to hide the head wraps behind the bead but it really isn’t necessary. Even when doubling back the Flatbraid the tie-off isn’t bulky.
That doubling back thing results in a wing case the DOESN’T pull out, at least not on my flies.
I live out West and rarely use a Copper John, cant stand Flash Back PT’s/Hares Ears. In my book, less, and slimmer are better.
Just an opinion.
… fish in the eastern part of the country.
But I’m with DUB when it comes to the Intermountain West. I very seldom, if ever, put flash on a fly of any kind. I do use some gold, copper, and silver wire ribbing, and I tie some “coppery johns” which don’t have a wing case or epoxy, and a beadhead occasionally represents a form of “flash” but beyond that I prefer simpler flies.
I know some excellent fly tiers and fishermen from SE Idaho and Western Montana who are dedicated to flash. That’s cool. Works for them. And then when my flies come along, the fishies see something different.:roll:
John