A famous fly that you dont care for?

[osprey]

Any traditional mayfly pattern that calls for a quill wing , not bunched wood duck or mallard or hair or hackle tips (adams) but paired duck wing feathers last about three casts and then they turn into bunched fiber wings anyhow. Now........a white marabou muddler with some flash and a red tag or tail for me at times is a killer , i usually tie them outside on the picnic table cause it can be a mess.

 

[muskratnymph1]

This is a really interesting post! I have enjoyed reading all of the flies that different people love and others detest! I love swinging a brace of "old" winged wets, and the prince is one of my staple nymphs. I am not a fan of the muddler though. But, I am a Shenk sculpin fan (after fishing with Joe on Spruce I made it one of my go to flies!) and they are both spun deer hair. I guess the components of the muddler are too stiff and lifeless in the water.

 

[hammertime]

do not like the green weenie or the san juan worm.

or the patriot. those are the 3 dumbest flies imo.

 

[ryguyfi]

I was crushing the fish this season when the water was low and clear with a green weenie. Very visable to see if the fish took it. It's tough to tell without seeing it when the water has very little flow. I also do well with SJW on the first weekend or two of the season, and right after a rain. Meck would not like your hatred towards the patriot lol.

 

[atlantisboy911]

I agree on the patriot, I read Mecks tandem flies book and was inspired to try the patriot and have yet to catch a fish on it.

SJW in pink is kiler for rainbows, I fished a stretch of Pine creek and was pulling out rainbows on SJW whilst all the other anglers fishing nymphs caught nothing!

I use a weighted green weenie as a point fly but always catch on the dropper , yet when I change the point fly I dont catch as many, I think the weenie is a better attractor fly than a catcher.

 

[hammertime]

I tied some Patriots when I first started flyfishing and got one of Meck's books.

Tried like crazy to catch fish with it but it never happened. Now I figure its not worth my time to tie. I'd rather tie stimulators. Those work!

 

[shakey]

MattBoyer wrote:

shakey wrote:
there was a braggy non-jammer that wouldn't clam up ,getting on peoples nerves.

35 fish that day, wasn't it? :-D

Boyer

yeah,he sat right next to maurice and told how he caught 35 or 36 that morining on san juan worms.i think he had it worked out to one third browns,one third brookies and one third rainbows.this on a day where 3 would be a high catch rate.

i think i only caught three or four fish that whole weekend!

i love those guys that wet wade in 40 degree water in big white sneakers and basketball shorts,as long as they catch so many fish,haha

 

[osprey]

A San Juan worm tied to look like the local garden hackle will take native brookies especially after a rain.

 

[sundrunk]

osprey wrote:
Any traditional mayfly pattern that calls for a quill wing , not bunched wood duck or mallard or hair or hackle tips (adams) but paired duck wing feathers last about three casts and then they turn into bunched fiber wings anyhow. Now........a white marabou muddler with some flash and a red tag or tail for me at times is a killer , i usually tie them outside on the picnic table cause it can be a mess.

The only exception in my view regarding quill wings would be on small olives below #18..Sometimes I'll bond wings together with glue.

 

[RLeep2]

>>The only exception in my view regarding quill wings would be on small olives below #18..Sometimes I'll bond wings together with glue.>>

That's an interesting idea...

I think quill winged mayfly imitations are one of those places where fly tying as an art form and fly tying for functionality and utility tend to collide with each other.

Quill wing duns are nice to look at, but I've never seen any evidence that a nicely balanced two-winged upright fly catches any more or less fish due to this design.

The only fly I tie with quill wings is the Blue Quill. And for them, I only ever use one Krylon-sprayed section of quill as a single wing. And I tie very few of them any more anyway, because paraleps are virtually non-existent where I do most of my fishing now.

The fish don't seem to mind a single winged fly though..

 

[sundrunk]

I find most of my quill wing mayflies larger then #18 have a tendency to spin...Plus, smaller quill wings arn't as likely to split....plus glue😉

 

[Crotalus]

Wooly bugger for me, dont like tying them, dont like fishing them.

I prefer a bunny leech any day of the week

 

[PSUFishMenace]

I like muddlers. I have done well with them. They look more like grasshoppers to me honestly but I've had trout chase and take them as well as hit them on top.

I have caught very little on clouser minnows- I think only one smallie and nothing else and I've used them several times.