Spring 2018 Top Flies

[Tigereye]

As spring 2018 is officially over for most of us due to this God foresaken heat wave, I was putting stuff away until fall. Taking inventory I see that the top flies for Spring 18 are as follows in no particular order:

Gold ribbed hares ear
Prince
Rusty Spinner
Sulfur
Slate Drake
Henryville
Royal Wulff
Grey soft hackle
March Brown wet
Green caddis pupae

This from Pocono area Lehigh, Brodheads and McMichaels Cks.
Noticeably absent are hendickson red quill and lt Cahill.

What are your observations this year?

 

[fritz]

Buggers were by far the best for me.

 

[Outback_Yak]

This may look as shameless plug, but without a doubt my number 1 and 2 flies have been Tungsten Brush Hog Nymph and Tungsten Cinnamon Toast Nymph from Kevin Compton at Performance Flies.

Due to constant rain and high water this season I decided to commit nearly 100% of my time on the water to nymphing. They're very suggestive flies and they have proven to work in all water types, which gives me confidence. And nothing fishes better than confidence.

 

[dc410]

fritz wrote:
Buggers were by far the best for me.

I’m right with ya on the bugger, Fritz.

In fact, a dumbbell eyed, rabbit strip tail bugger that I call the wooly bomber flat out slayed ‘em all season so far with the constant high and off color water conditions.

It will continue to produce consistently right through the summer because it is a killer Smallmouth pattern. I’m tying more up as we speak, oh yeah, Olive ones and Black ones with red dumbell eyes!!

 

[fritz]

Wooly bomber! Good one! Like the idea of the dumbbell eyes!

I should have included slump busters and some streamers that were just my own dreamt up stuff. But agree, streamers in general were the way to go this spring.

 

[Canoetripper]

I've only fished two places so far this year. What has worked best for me so far are olive woolybuggers in the Poconos and a streamer that I buy at the Evening Rise in White Haven. It is mostly brown with some yellow and a bead head.

On the Frying Pan River in Colorado, I trusted the guides recipe which were two very small nymphs with an emger rising at the end of the drift if I got my cast and drift good enough to catch those trout.

I haven't caught any trout on the surface, or even tried since I haven't seen enough rising trout.

I will wait until after this heat wave and water temperatures cool to fish again.

 

[dc410]

No need to wait. Go bust some smallies! They love the heat.

 

[Dave_W]

By a wide margin, my winner is......

Pink San Juan Worm.

With the high and cold trout streams until recently, I had a lot of success on this pattern, which I usually fish with a generic nymph or soft hackle wet. I'm convinced from my macroinvertebrate surveys that aquatic worms are much more prevalent in streams than most anglers realize. This combined with the rain and high water which puts more earthworms in the creeks...led to some good worm fishing this year for me. Both stocked and wilds just went wild for the pink SWJ the last couple months.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

For me either a great lakes double deceiver or a white red and black circus peanut

 

[Letort]

Most on a Golden Retriever wooly.

Bunch of natives on caddis dry.

 

[Wild_Trouter]

Yellow Stimulators
Sulphurs
BWOs
Neversink Caddis
Sculpins
Hi Vis Beetle

 

[dryflyguy]

This spring went pretty much as usual for me - although the hatches were quite a bit later than they were the last few years.

BWO's in march.
Grannoms and Hendricksons in april
Sulphers in may