Dennis’ Fishing Report for his outing last Friday on the South Fork of the Snake in ID got me to thinking about this question, again. Dennis reported that most of the fishies he caught ate a prince nymph.
The prince nymph is undoubtedly one of the most popular nymph patterns around and is the “go to” fly for a great number of folks who nymph fish regularly.
I CAN’T SEEM TO CATCH A FISH ON THIS PATTERN. I have no trouble tying what seems to be a very good version of the prince nymph. BUT I swear, every time ( with two exceptions ) I have fished one, I lose it almost immediately or fail to catch anything with it.
Same thing with a WOOLY BUGGER. I did have one good day swinging and stripping a couple bugger patterns, and that was that.
I just started dry fly fishing this year, and did VERY well for a newbie…Caught fish on parachutes, wulffs, hairwings, comparaduns, etc. But not the standard dry fly tie. I did get one fish on a light cahill…but it was after the current had pulled it under and it was tumbling along underwater.
I’m sure I’ll eventually do it, but I just havent had great luck with them yet.
This is in comparison to a fly I was given that was nothing more than micro chennille tied to a size 20 hook. This fly when fished as a nymph can catch fish all day.
I have never caught a fish on a bugger or an Adams.
Part of the problem is that I try the flies that have worked for me first. When I do this and catch fish it reinforces that these flies catch fish making it more likely that I will start with them next time. Its when I am not catching that I dig into the box and try something new or different. IE buggers and Adams etc when I continue not to catch fish on them it reinforces that they don’t work for me.
Muddler Minnow. Fish must fear these because when I put one on they disappear. Of course, I have given muddlers from my box to other anglers and watched them hook up almost immediately.
I have my favorite patterns.
I fish them first and they therefore get better chance than the others.
I think it’s also a question of believing in the fly you are fishing.
I tried Pheasant Tail many times before it came one of my favorite patterns, I never catched anything on it. But one day it happened, I don’t know why, but I started fishing on it.
So it’s a question of keep trying the pattern and mabe convincing yourself it’s a good pattern, be positive, this fly is good
Griffith’s Gnat…most probably because I can rarely see it!
I’m with you John as to not being able to catch a darn fish with the Prince Nymph. Don’t have a clue as to why? I don’t do a lot of nymphing anyway
but I do have some success with the Gold Ribbed Hares Ear, Zugbug, and Tellico. Old flies like me I guess!
I have a list of flies to tie that books, my friends, or local guides say MUST be in my box, and I have been at this for 20 years. I have even caught salmon with blue foam on a hook, but I have never caught a fish on a grasshopper/stimulator or a large dark stonefly nymph - although if fish for bass and trout, have tried when the conditions are right, and am always ready.
I agree on the Prince Nymphs. I have given them to friends and watched them catch fish on them. I have watched folks catch fish on Copper Johns and not got a nibble. I have had Woolly Buggers chewed to shreds and not caught a thing.
I started fly fishing in April of '08 and caught my first fish on a fly in September of '09. In between, I tried everything above, Adams, traditional wets, soft hackles that folks swore by, and every other “go to” or “must have” fly anyone mentioned. I have watched some of my Scouts take little foam ants I showed them how to tie and catch fish when they just float there for me.
The first fish was on a store bought Parachute BWO. Since then, I have been catching on a regular basis, but not on any of the stuff above. My go to fly is a little olive vinyl ribbed nymph I threw together after watching one of the other adults show the boys some bugs on the bottoms of rocks along the shore of the lake. If a hatch is coming off, and the brookies are jumping, I go straight for a Royal Coachman Dry tied in the Catskill Style.
It’s a good thing tying is so much fun. I have a whole winter ahead of me to tie flies that I just must have in my box that I will never catch a fish on.
This summer I did quite well catching trout on a Henry’s Fork Hopper, and a couple of times did ok with a Dave’s Hopper. But whenever I put on a foam hopper, the fish laughed at it!
I never found a hopper pattern that I liked to tie and fish until I developed the FEB Hopper this past summer so I didn’t fish hoppers at all. It is now something I am much looking forward to next year. Follow the link.
After fishing it on many Intermountain West streams and rivers, I’m pretty well satisfied that in a scaled down size 10 or a size 12, with yellow thread and some yellow in the FEB, it is taken as a golden stone as often as it is taken as a hopper. That’s a tough combination to beat in the mountains of the West over the course of the summer.
John
P.S.1 It took fishies on the Greys River.
P.S.2 It is not possible to hijack your own thread.
I treat fishing like we treated our own dinner table. “This isn’t a restaurant. You will eat what’s put on your plate”. But, in most cases I wouldn’t put something totally out of the realm of palatable before them. With that in mind, I usually throw what I feel they’d like to eat and ,in most cases, it’s the “go to’s”. I really can’t say there is a pattern that has “never” produced for me. I don’t use stuff I feel won’t produce and my “extensive” experience is my guide for that.
But, I do have a whole lot less success with streamers and it’s probably because I’m really not sure as to when and how to use them.
I don’t tie my own flies yet… something I’m hoping to start this winter, but after reading the long thread about this all summer, I do think it has possibilities. If I’m tieing, I’ll definitely have some ready by next July. That’s for sure!
I fish warm water mostly and have struck out more than once on woolly buggers. I fished with a guy this summer who said his general rule was always “buggers first”. He caught a few fish on them while we were fishing together, I tried and caught nothing. I switched to another fly and started hammering fish. This was my 5th or 6th time mercilessly flailing the water with a bugger. Aproximate time spent trying: 8 hours…Fish to show for it: 1.
Everybody says it’s great, I must be doing it wrong…
I’d never caught a fish (any fish) on a scud pattern until last Friday when I went with Kelly Glissmeyer and Buzz. (See page 22 of his Dad and the Kid 2009 post in the Fishing Reports section.) http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/showthread.php?t=27785 I guess I’ve subconsciously been under the impression that scuds were for lakes, and I always did better with a leech pattern of some kind in the lakes, so I haven’t really given it a fair shake. You can bet that I’ll be going to a scud in the quieter moving water after that experience. Wow!
Curious question!
All the flies in my box caught fish. All the flies named here as Adams, WB, Muddler Minnow, Griffith’s Gnat were very succesful for me.
Muddler Minnow is a fly that saved my day many times. The same for G.Gnats.
Prince is perhaps the best nymph in my home rivers.
Curious question!
I have a whole winter ahead of me to tie flies that I just must have in my box that I will never catch a fish on. 