Flies

[loveshack]

I have just started to fly fish in SE Pa and I was wondering if anyone had some recommendations for essential flies that will get me through the season.

 

[marcq]

nymphs are gonna be Pheasant tails, hare ear, scuds, midges, caddis larva and emerges .

streamers wooly bugger

dries BWO, caddis and some streams have sulfurers.

a few random green weenie, cressbug,

 

[jeremymcon]

Adams! In sizes 12 to 22. Adams dry flies are great because they can imitate a lot of different bugs. Go with the standard dun to begin with, then maybe try the parachute version. The Adams is the only fly I fished for the first 3 or 4 months of learning to fish, and I caught plenty of panfish and small (dumb) trout. Enough to get me through learning the basics of casting, reading water, and getting a good drift.

 

[dryflyguy]

You could do pretty well with adams for the darker mayflies, and sulphers for the lighter ones. Ditto with caddis flys - some in gray, and some in tan. Throw in some rusty spinners and terrestrials, and you'd have a basic dry fly selection that would suffice in many situations IMO

 

[Volksnurse]

Zebra midge too. Red, olive and black.

 

[ROVERT]

If we're talking trout, my basic essentials would probably be as follows.

The Adams for dark mayflies, the Light Cahill for light mayflies.

A few shades of Elk Hair Caddis.

The green weenie and pheasant tail for nymphs.

The woolly bugger for streamers.

Flying ants and foam beetles for terrestrials.

I'd also consider putting the Griffith Gnat on the list.

As for sizes 14-18 for the dries. 10-16 for the nymphs. 10-12 for Woolly Buggers. 14-18 for the terrestrials. 18-24 for the gnats.

I would guess that over 50% of the fish I've caught on a fly rod have been on four flies: Adams, Light Cahills, Elk Hair Caddis, and Green Weenies.

 

[N8ureboy]

PM sent

 

[Coughlin]

Volksnurse's recommendation about Zebra midges is good advice. Tie one with about 1 1/2-2 ft of tippet behind a caddis or other good floating fly (I tie the tippet to the bend of the hook of the floater). Zebra's work in sizes 16-22. You can use the same diameter tippet as you have for the floater, but I always go down on size. If using 4x tippet, I'll use 5x for the dropper tippet.
good fishing
Coughlin

 

[mike_richardson]

We should have a sticky thread for this question!