Fly assortment: Feedback please

[semperfish]

Using this cold weather down time to build a fly assortment. I've been reading everything I can find and I plan on picking a lot of folks' brains at the Lancaster show and the March 16 jam.
Here's my list of what I have and what I'm planning on buying:

Wooly Buggers sizes 8 & 12 chartruese and black
San Juan Worm 10 & 12 red and brown
Jansen Minnows 8 silver/shad

Poppers (eg Boogle Bug) 4/8 chart, yellow, black

Foam Terrestrials yellow/brown/green
(hoppers/gurglers/ants/beetles)

The following Nymphs and dries I'm thinking size 14/16:
GR Hares Ear
Copper John
BH Prince

EH Caddis
sulphur dunn & emerger
Light Cahill
Adams
Hendrickson

Bear in mind that at least 80% of my FF will be warm water for smallies, rockbass and sunnies.

Looking for feedback....thanks

 

[CathyG]

For woolybuggers I go with black, olive, brown, or white in that order or some combo of those like black & olive or brown & olive.

Orange or rusty brown would probably be good for river smallies.

Panfish love foam spiders, especially when they're shallow.

I just got some new tying materials (UV stuff, sculpin heads) and I'll be playing and experimenting over the next few days. If you want some buggers or czech nymphs PM your address and I'll send you some.

 

[McSneek]

semperfish wrote:
Bear in mind that at least 80% of my FF will be warm water for smallies, rockbass and sunnies.

Chartreuse over white Clouser minnow for the smallies.

If you were to add anything more for nymphs I think it should be pheasant tails.

Good advice from Cathy on the bugger colors.

 

[Chaz]

Don't forget your mayfly spinners. It is important to have them for the hatches you'll be fishing.

 

[thebassman]

you got a pretty good list put together already and have some great suggestions on what to add. I find most of my luck for warm water fish like smallies and sunnies/rock bass are little poppers that are dead drifted with subtle pops here and there in the evening.

 

[Stagger_Lee]

bassman is right for the WW species you mentioned .. and poppers are fun to fish

 

[semperfish]

I really appreciate the feedback from everyone.
I'm looking forward to the Lancaster Show. The website for the show has not posted a vendors list yet but I'm expecting there will be plenty of folks selling, or at least diplaying flys. I need to get a better feel for sizes of flies. I get the "higher number/smaller fly" thing but when I get to streamers like WB's and the like, I don't quite have a feel for the # vs physical size. I'm gonna be like a kid in a candy shop at that show!

 

[dc410]

Shenk's white minnow is another great smallie pattern. My MO for last year's Lancaster show was to learn as much as I could about tying and fishing SMB patterns. I got to meet Bob Clouser and Ed Shenk and watch them tie their classic patterns. Bought one of Clouser's SMB books (which he signed for me). Bought a bunch of hooks and died bucktails to start tying Clouser Minnows. Probably 90% of the smallies I caught last season were taken on a size 4 Chartruese/White Clouser minnow (definitely my go to bass pattern). I had a blast at last years show and learned a lot and I'm sure you will this year. It was a day well spent.

 

[CathyG]

Here are some web sights to check out. They not only sell stuff but most have instructional videos as well.

breambugs.com
smallmouthflyshop.com & tightlinesflyshop.com (same people)
flybass.com

Also Rainy's flies made some foam bass poppers and hoppers that are really nice. I had an assortment box of them but can't find it and they're getting hard to find.

 

[hack]

My first fish on the fly was a smallie on a Wooly Bugger in Pine Creek.

If you want to party with the sunnies til your bored (and catching anything on a fly rod is a blast for me!), put on a black stonefly under an indicator. My nephew and I walked a small creek in VA one afternoon, and after 30 minutes I had to let him walk ahead because I was pulling all the sunnies off every likely spot with the stonefly. Quit when they finally tore it apart.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

I loved using topwater poppers all summer long. You have to pop them fast enough (just out of the reach of sunnies and bluegills) and the SM Bass will tear them up. Best color was white. I tried other colors like orange or chartruse and they didn't seam interested in them.
I have made a few topwater flies in the brown arena that worked quite well.

 

[PennKev]

semperfish wrote:

Bear in mind that at least 80% of my FF will be warm water for smallies, rockbass and sunnies.

Looking for feedback....thanks

That's not really that great of a warm water/bass selection. You have a lot of classic trout patterns on that list that won't see much action, or just be fodder for bluegills.

If you're serious about bass and panfish, these should be the priority from your list:

Wooly Buggers sizes 8 & 12 chartruese and black
Jansen Minnows 8 silver/shad
Poppers (eg Boogle Bug) 4/8 chart, yellow, black
Foam Terrestrials yellow/brown/green
(hoppers/gurglers/ants/beetles)
EH Caddis

I would also ad a variety of clousers, some rabbit strip flies like zonkers, and also clouser crayfish or similiar crayfish pattern.

Kev

 

[Fishidiot]

Semper,
Since you're mainly targeting WW fish, you'll want to add to your list some Clouser Minnows in heavier sizes. During the colder months of the year, esp April and Oct/Nov, river bass key on baitfish and the heavy Clouser will enable you to hit the colder water fish in the deeper eddies and pools where they typically are during these months. Green over white is usually a good color although I like olive over gray with some gold sparkle flash. For stained water, black over chartreuse with an orange throat is my go-to color for Clousers.

A crayfish pattern is tough to beat for summer SMBs and rockies. The Clouser Crayfish has it's fans but I prefer a pattern that uses dumbell weight so as to ride hook up (like the Clouser Minnow). You can tie your Wooly Buggers with dumbell weights to get this jig-like effect. A better summer pattern for crayfish IMO would be the Holshag Hackle Fly.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

Here is where un-conventionals can work quite well. I will us bass lures normally associated with spin casting gear and lay them down with the Flyrod. Check out my subject concerning using the unconventionals. It was a heated topic of what is considered true fly fisherman and others.

 

[YoughnessMonster]

Poppers poppers and more poppers!