jkilroy wrote:
Hi, I'm getting my inventory up for the spring and I was wondering what the most popular sizes are for sulphur, adams, and Lt cahill for Pa.
I want to keep my fly box to a minimum. Too many choices and I get overwhelmed, and the flies don't get used.
Keeping it simple is a good idea. After some experience, you learn what flies/patterns are most effective for the places you fish, but many FFers never even go that far, and fish “near enough” flies, and catch a whole bunch of fish. To limit the number of patterns, for mayflies at least, think more about size and lightest/darkness of the fly, rather than the exact color.
You mentioned carrying sulphurs and cahills. These flies are very similar (light tan or yellowish with lightish wings) and one is a good substitute for another. Many times on the stream I didn’t ran out of the right size fly and substituted a cahill pattern for a larger sized sulphur and vice versa.
To answer your question about sulphurs, I’ve seen them a legitimate size 12 down to an 18. The larger ones usually hatch earlier in the season, and the smaller ones later. Cahills usually are about a size 12-14. So buy or tie some size 10 - 14 Cahills and 16 - 18 sulphurs to cover both hatches, and you can use a size 10 - 12 cahill pattern for the march brown/gray fox hatch or vice versa.
The adams is a great fly general purpose fly and matches many of the darker hatches It works well to cover the many BWO hatches in the medium to smaller sizes, while the larger sizes would cover the Quill Gordon and Iso hatch among others. I would carry the adams in a size 10 to 20.
Having the exact pattern is not essential to fool a trout the vast majority of the time, just be sure to have the patterns in different sizes. So, buy or tie some light patterns and dark patterns in size 10-20 and you can cover a nearly all mayfly hatches.
Don’t sweat the fly pattern like most FFers do...there are no magic flies or patterns. If you’re going to sweat something, worry more about presentation, stealth, and reading the water, and you’ll be a lot more successful. Good luck.