Does the type of fly make as much difference as we might think?
If properly presented in front of a willing fish, does it matter if we are using a Woolly Bugger, Clouser Minnow, Zonker, Goldie, Boa Yarn Leach or any other similar fly? Will any of these similar dressings draw the same reaction from a fish if presented to them?
I have only about 18 months experience, but I have been wondering about this. It is my guess that the type of fly is not that important. That location (including depth), the activity level of the fish and presentation are the critical factors.
What do you think?
Regardless of the answer, I find tying to be a very enjoyable pastime and enjoy learning and tying new dressings. I would hate to spend the rest of my years tying Woolly Buggers only. But…does the fish really care as much as we do?
I would have to say that I do believe that the fly pattern and color used often make big a difference. There are times of course when fish are almost in a feeding frenzy (especially warmwater species) and it seems that anything you chuck at them gets taken. Then there are other times when switching to another fly of the same size and pattern in a different color has resulted in suddenly catching fish where before I was striking out. If you’re fishing top water for bass or bream, I suspect that color makes very little difference. It’s the action and the size of the prey that they’re keying on. All that said, I admit that about 90% of the time I fish for bass and bream, I use black patterns, mainly leeches and they seem to work in almost any given situation.
Yes, the vast majority of the time, the fly makes the difference. Based on my experiences in times with two of us fishing out of the same boat and/or changing flies then getting hits, yes the fly makes the difference. There are rarer times when they will hit on almost anything. Naturally this is based on presenting the fly the way the fish wants it (depth/strip/etc). If the fly isn’t presented properly then nothing will hardly work.
I believe that the “fly” must represent a food form the fish recognizes, sometimes the right color for that food form.
Other times an attractor fly that is totally different from any food form. Thats fishing, sometimes it works sometimes not.
The wooly bugger is a good generic for various food forms that is why it is so good.
My experience has been that as long as you are using anything that remotely resembles something they (warm water predator fish) eat then presentation is the key. For bass I like any colour of popper during the day but usually go darker (black) as it gets darker. If the bass are eating then clousers work all the time. Colour can be a factor.
Thank you for the responses. I like the responses that the dressing matters, because now I can feel justified in learning all the new dressings that I want to learn.
This week I will try tying my first Clouser…wish me luck. I will need it!
I look at flies as tools. I was a bass fisherman long before I ever picked up a fly rod, and I learned that different lures are suitable for different situations. I use different flies for different presentations. Finding (or tying/inventing) a suitable fly for a particular situation is what makes fly tying fun for me.
What I’ve actually found in my fly fishing for Bass (Smallmouth and Largemouth) and bluegills is that presentation is by far the most important aspect of successful fly fishing for these species. Depth, action, and speed control are the critical factors. Color is secondary at best. ‘Which’ fly pattern is unimportant as long as what you are using fits with the presentation.
For opportunistic predators like these, matching the food source isn’t even close to important in my fishing. A bass will usually eat several different prey species in any given day. And, given that bass in particular spend so little time actively ‘feeding’, a fly that ‘provokes’ a strike by it’s speed and action is usually more effective over the course of a fishing day.
All that being what works for me, I still believe that angler confidence is so important that I really feel that if it, whatever ‘it’ is, matters to you, then it matters. This is just fishing, and there are no hard and fast rules here. It’s never a waste of time to learn new patterns or to fish with different flies in different ways. Have fun, catch fish. What works for me may not be what works for you.
Buddy brings up an important point that I fully agree with but it is difficult to prove scientifically. That is, if the fisherman has confidence in the pattern he or she is using, they quite often (almost always) have more success with that pattern. It is difficult to explain how this could be true, but after years of fly fishing, it has happened way too many times for me to not completely believe in this phenomenom. There have been many times when I am catching fish but my fishing buddy is not having any luck so I give him some of the pattern I am using and tell him how I am fishing it. He’s a good fisherman (probably much better than I am) uses the same pattern fished the same way, but because he lacks the confidence in the pattern, he is not as successful as I am. Hard to explain, but it sure seems to be true.
My experience is that it all depend son the day. Many days it doesn’t seem to matter.
I go to one pond, that if I hit the right day, the fish a keyed in on a midge.
Size 20 hook with golden pheasant tail fiber wrapped on it. The ill hit that regularly and seldom take anything else.
Any other time the fish will take most flies.
Think this is why they call it fishing and not catching.
Rick
for a few years I fished some “sandhill” lakes in the Florida panhandle which had tremendous hatches of Hexagenia mayflies in spring. When the hatch was going full swing, the big bluegills became EXTREMELY selective, feeding on emergers-- to the point that the locals stopped fishing for them because all anyone used was poppers, and during the hatch time they just didn’t hit poppers. I absolutely killed them on big size 6 foam-wing emergers.
Back in late September I was acting as a lake guide for a Casting For Recovery retreat in South Jersey, the main purpose is to have the lady you’re guiding catch some fish. We had caught a couple really small sunfish and as we were wading along the shore we were pushing a large school of small sunfish in front of us. The sunnies were sticking close to the shore. We both had polarized glasses and in front of us about 20 feet from shore we could see a line of large bass with about 10 feet between each fish pointed toward the shore. Every so often one would rush in an blow up the school of sunfish, come back and resume its position in the line. They were so intent on the sunfish that we were able to get within easy casting distance. I don’t know how many times I changed her flies but even dragging the fly right in front of their noses got no response. With hindsight I realized the flies were “swimming” in a straight line and the sunfish were swimming in circles like a bait ball. Another time I was up on Pine Creek during the Green Drake hatch, I tried emergers, dries and spinners but none of the rising fish were interested and none of the other folks were having any luck either. I noticed what looked like a fine snow rising off the water, taking a closer look I could see tiny white mayflies floating on the water, a size 20 or smaller. I checked my box and I had three white midge dries in my box. Three casts, three takes, three broken tippets.
Confidence factor is another thing. I don’t have a whole lot of confidence in Wooly Buggers. I just don’t seem to catch a whole lot of fish on them so there are only a few in my box. Same with the Clouser. I had heard so much about them I tied some up. After a couple of years I gave up on them. Then I watched Bob Clouser tie one and realized I had been tying them wrong. Mine looked like Clousers but didn’t have the same action. I’ve had much better luck with them since I started tying them the “Clouser way” and they now have a place in my box.
I agree with Rick, it depends on the day. If dragonflies or damselflies are hatching you won’t catch a lot if you don’t have a pattern in your box that imitates the nymph or a dry that mimics a cripple. If the bass are focused on 1 to 2 inch bait fish, you might catch some fishing a 4 or 5 inch pattern but you’ll catch far more on a smaller pattern.
Warm water fish can get finicky at times. A lot depends on the time of year, water temperature, and what kind of mood the fish are in at the time.
However, if they are inclined to bite at all, as a rule, a brown , black, or olive Woolly Bugger, purple Bunny Leech, or Clouser Minnow will do the trick, no matter what mood they are in. For sunfish, a black Chernobyl Ant, or Black Widow will get them active. For crappie, a chartreuse, or olive drab and white Clouser works the magic. If they don’t hit on any of these, chances are, they will not hit anything…even live bait.
Will add this: It’s been my experience that most warm water fish aren’t all that choosy, for the most part. However, I have noticed that freshwater striped bass and hybrids can be selective as to size, and it drives me crazy sometimes. They really don’t seem to care what pattern you throw, as long as it is close to the size of what they decided to feed on today. I don’t know why.
