well, kinda
i
need to know what flies ya’ll would suggest for a small to medium trout stream in upstate SC?
heading out on sat with some buds but don’t try for trout often. any help is appreciated.
sorry about the choppy-ness of the sentences, i injured my thumb at basketball and its not working too well
tight lines
jordan
Hello dryfly, you might have a look here in the fly fishing forum at the thread asking if you could only take 5 flies…I think most any of them would work in sizes 10 through 18 for nymphs and 14 through 18 for dries.
Cheers,
MontanaMoose
Dryfly-
A good assortment for this time of year down your way might be something like:
Dry Flies (these would imitate the small mayflies, caddis and midges that should be starting to hatch around now):
Parachute Blue Winged Olive and or Parachute Adams 16-20 for the small dark mayflies that might be hatching now.
Black Elk Hair caddis size 18 for the small caddis and dark brown/black winter stoneflies that should be starting to pop
Griffiths Gnat size 20 for midges, they usually hatch all winter long. This is a good pattern when there’s really tiny stuff hatching. It looks like a midge convention so it’s a tasty meal, and is easier to see and fish then real tiny imitations in smaller sizes.
Wets:
Partridge and Orange Soft Hackle size 16 (good as a searching fly if nothing is going on, and they?re hard to fish wrong, just cast up and across stream and let it swing below you. You can also add split shot to fish a bit deeper, hang off a dry as a dropper or whatever.)
Nymphs (you can fish these by themselves or hang off a dry fly by attaching a short 12 inch length of tippet to the bend of the dry. You may get some hits on the dry, but more often it serves as an indicator (think ?bobber?) to watch if anything whacks the nymph. Use a 16 dry and a smaller size nymph):
Pheasant Tail Nymph 16 and/or 18
Copper John 16 and/or Bead Head Hares Ear Nymph 14 or 16
Zebra Midge 18 if you?re fishing in slower water or below a dam with slow water (imitates midges)
Other stuff:
Bead Head or weighted Black Woolly Bugger size 8 or 10 for fishing deeper pools
Y2K or other egg type fly, maybe in an apricoty peachy color to fish along the bottom with small split shot.
San Juan Worm- could be very good fished along the bottom
And, maybe something bushier and bigger with lots of hackle that?s easy to see as a fast water dry if you?re fishing a fast water mountain streams something like a Royal or Tennessee Wulff, Humpie, Tan Elk Hair Caddis etc in 14 or 16. You could also use these as the indicator in slower water with a nymph dropper.
There will be other stuff to add as things warm up, but these would be good choices for now, and are pretty good go-to flies all year long.
Good luck.
peregrines
whatever else you take, make sure to have half a dozen size 16 bead head pheasant tail nymphs. drop 'em off whatever else you use, and enjoy!
Olive Woolly Bugger sizes 6-12
Parachute Adams size 14 (12-18)
Adams/Thunderhead (14, 16)
Blue Wing Olive size 18 to as small as you want.
Griffith’s Gnat size 12 to as small as you like.
GRHEN sizes 12 and down
simple midge dries in black, cream\creme\manilla, grizzly, and medium blue dun, if you are inclined to play that game.
Zebra midges, as small as you can stand a a wee bit bigger.
Assorted soft hackles, flymphs, nymph and midges.
Something garish - Royal Coachman, Parachute Patriot, etc…
Ed
This bucktail streamer has been working pretty well from me since Thanksgiving. I have also caught a few on brown pheasant tail nymphs. I have tried the same streamer with a green middle color but the fish refuse it.
Best of luck and sorry about your thumb!
whats the recipe for that streamer? Wingsdlc
Where will you all be fishing? DH water, wild mountain streams, Or some of the tailraces in E. Tennessee. PM me if you’d like, or you can post on here. I have fished all three and what works in one does not always work in the other.
sorry for the late reply
Thank you Peregrines for your extensive suggestions. i already have alot of those in my box. In terms of the dropper, how do you get it to not Knot up when you cast?
Casey;
i already have those and i really like them
Wingsdlc;
that is a cool fly
it reminds me of a mickey finn only more colorful. what was the pattern?
and gqualls;
i don’t mind. we are fishing the E. fork Chattooga and the chattooga along their respective trails.
thanks for all the help.
Dryfly
Here is a good selection to start out with that works in just about any water.
These patterns catch pretty much everything that swims, anywhere there is fresh water (and some work in saltwater as well).
A couple of months ago I posted a tread on here about the streamer but it is gone now. How do I send it in for fly of the month?
I don’t have a name for the pattern. It is similar to the mickey finn but I think a mickey fin is tied in different color patterns. The fly shown is just something I came up with.
Isn’t this it: Buck Tail Streamer ( http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/showthread.php?p=263143&highlight=Wingsdlc#post263143 ) ?