The Ultimate Brookie Box?

[FarmerDave]

After reading more posts, I will add to my previous as sort of a nod to other responses.

I fished a lot in NWPA, so I always have ELCs with me. As TB said, body color didn't matter all that much. Caddis are the dominant hatch on many of those streams. I have also done with attractor patterns. Royal trude and chartreuse trude come to mind, but there are so many others. These can look like a caddis, stonefly, or a flying ant. I could go on and on, but I usually wasn't as concerned about matching any hatch on a headwater stream.

But once in awhile they do not cooperate on dries and I will change wet, nymphs, or even streamers.

Hence that day I used the fly tied with Lady Amherst feathers. I never used one before, and it was visible.

Fortunately I didn't have to resort to a Joe's fly that day. ;-)

 

[afishinado]

I think when one is looking to be a successful brook trout fisherman, the fly box he carries is one of the least important things for success. If you are looking to get started and don't have a lot of flies to fish, don't not get out there, give it a go!

As I stated in my previous post > "Just carry a small box with some simple dries, a few nymphs, wets and small streamers."

Many of the patterns favored by members are mentioned above. The number of varied pet patterns that catch fish for the guys demonstrates that the fly pattern in itself is seldom the key at all.

Just make sure the dries you carry are visible and durable and float well in all water types because small streams have riffles and a few steps up a flat water pool and pocket water...you get the idea. Also your dries often double as an indicator for your nymphs and wets in a dry-dropper rig, so visibility and floatability and are doubly important.

I would bet on the angler that uses stealth and can make accurate casts in tight quarters, rather than the guy with a fully stocked box.

Frank Nale has literally caught >100,000 trout with his white bead #1 blade spinner. Why? He can cast accurately to hit all the key spots, uses camo and stealth on every stream he fishes, knows when and where to fish for best results. It's not his spinner choice, it's his skill as an angler and his attention to detail.

I have a sling pack loaded well over 1000 flies (I tried counting them one time) :roll: ....with just about every fly type and pattern imaginable. I don't like to pack or unpack fly boxes, so I carry all the flies with all my patterns in my pack wherever I fish....The Bighorn River or Little Valley Creek.

I have a small fly box setup that I carry in front and load up with the flies I plan to use for the day. I select a few of each type of fly and leave the rest of the flies behind me in my sling pack.

I cannot think of one time in the past few years of fishing where I had to go back and pull out any flies that I needed to catch fish on a small brookie stream. The same hand full of flies work well. My success (or failure) always seems to hinge on my ability to deliver a cast and not spook the fish....or not.

We are lucky to have so many opportunities in PA. Brookie fishing is one of the most fun things you can do. You have a chance to catch a whole bunch of fish in an outing. No need to buy hundreds of flies or use fancy rods or equipment to have a successful day on the water. Just get out there and enjoy.

Oh, brookies begin to spawn this time of year, so give them a break right now.

 

[MKern]

I've been told before on here that I was making to too complicated, but I came up with a brookie nymph after a lot of missed strikes and lost fish.

The nymph is tied on a 2x fine dry fly hook. Two toned body with the front color being bright so both the fish and I can see it. It is wire ribbed to hold up longer.

For dries, I actually prefer an emerger klinkhamer style. I fond that the tails on dries sometimes get in the way of a tiny mouth finding a hook point. I have also observed that dries where the hook point is at the water's surface or slightly above it lead to more missed strikes. I don't know if its a light refractory thing or if the little fish just try and smash everything so quickly that their aim is off.

And foam ants.

those are the three brookie patterns I take to avoid taking a full fly box. Tiny flip top box with 18 flies or so. No extra weight when hiking.

 

[Swattie87]

FarmerDave wrote:
Fortunately I didn't have to resort to a Joe's fly that day. ;-)

Or a Thomas Special. :-o

 

[Swattie87]

STONEMAN wrote:
patriot fly. Easy to see. Floats well. Makes you proud.

Just don't fish it from a kneeling position.

 

[sklareskid]

Some natural colored buggers in a 10 work well for me on small brookie streams.

 

[ryansheehan]

troutbert wrote:
There was an article back in the early 1990s or so by a skilled PA flyfisher about brookie fishing that was really good.

It mentioned all of the standard truisms about brookie fishing:

1) You only need short casts.

2) You only short, stout leaders.

3) It makes no difference what fly you use.

Then said: these things are all wrong. People say these things a lot, but they simply don't match what we've seen on the brookie streams.

I read that and thought, EXACTLY! I've always been puzzled by those statements too. They never seemed right to me.

Medium and even long casts are often useful.

Medium and long leaders are often useful.

And the type of fly can often make a huge difference. So it's good to carry a good variety. It's important to have some different "categories" of flies:

Big Bushies: Whether that's Stimulators or something else, like a Humpy, isn't so important, but it's important to have some in this general category, for high and/or broken water.

Parachutes: Extremely versatile, work well in a wide range of conditions. From pretty low through the medium flows to pretty high. Very good when there are mayflies around. And there are often are some, sometimes a lot. Not all brookie streams are infertile. Two main body color variations are needed: Mediumish (hares ear tan) Lightish: Yellow

Elkhair caddis - Because...you gotta have EHC. I don't think you need many variations though. Tan body. Size 14 and 16. That'll do it, but put a lot of those in the box.

Terrestrials - In the summer and early fall, when the water gets low and clear, terrestrials will usually outfish anything else. Ants, beetles, inchworms.

Subsurface: Standard streamer, wetfly, and nymph patterns. No need to get fancy or carry lots of them, but just carry some of the standards, for when the brookies aren't hitting on top.

So basically the fly doesn't matter.........

 

[troutbert]

ryansheehan wrote:

troutbert wrote:
There was an article back in the early 1990s or so by a skilled PA flyfisher about brookie fishing that was really good.

It mentioned all of the standard truisms about brookie fishing:

1) You only need short casts.

2) You only short, stout leaders.

3) It makes no difference what fly you use.

Then said: these things are all wrong. People say these things a lot, but they simply don't match what we've seen on the brookie streams.

I read that and thought, EXACTLY! I've always been puzzled by those statements too. They never seemed right to me.

Medium and even long casts are often useful.

Medium and long leaders are often useful.

And the type of fly can often make a huge difference. So it's good to carry a good variety. It's important to have some different "categories" of flies:

Big Bushies: Whether that's Stimulators or something else, like a Humpy, isn't so important, but it's important to have some in this general category, for high and/or broken water.

Parachutes: Extremely versatile, work well in a wide range of conditions. From pretty low through the medium flows to pretty high. Very good when there are mayflies around. And there are often are some, sometimes a lot. Not all brookie streams are infertile. Two main body color variations are needed: Mediumish (hares ear tan) Lightish: Yellow

Elkhair caddis - Because...you gotta have EHC. I don't think you need many variations though. Tan body. Size 14 and 16. That'll do it, but put a lot of those in the box.

Terrestrials - In the summer and early fall, when the water gets low and clear, terrestrials will usually outfish anything else. Ants, beetles, inchworms.

Subsurface: Standard streamer, wetfly, and nymph patterns. No need to get fancy or carry lots of them, but just carry some of the standards, for when the brookies aren't hitting on top.

So basically the fly doesn't matter.........

Explain your work.

 

[ryansheehan]

troutbert wrote:
There was an article back in the early 1990s or so by a skilled PA flyfisher about brookie fishing that was really good.

It mentioned all of the standard truisms about brookie fishing:

1) You only need short casts.

2) You only short, stout leaders.

3) It makes no difference what fly you use.

Then said: these things are all wrong. People say these things a lot, but they simply don't match what we've seen on the brookie streams.

I read that and thought, EXACTLY! I've always been puzzled by those statements too. They never seemed right to me.

Medium and even long casts are often useful.

Medium and long leaders are often useful.

And the type of fly can often make a huge difference. So it's good to carry a good variety. It's important to have some different "categories" of flies:

Big Bushies: Whether that's Stimulators or something else, like a Humpy, isn't so important, but it's important to have some in this general category, for high and/or broken water.

Parachutes: Extremely versatile, work well in a wide range of conditions. From pretty low through the medium flows to pretty high. Very good when there are mayflies around. And there are often are some, sometimes a lot. Not all brookie streams are infertile. Two main body color variations are needed: Mediumish (hares ear tan) Lightish: Yellow

Elkhair caddis - Because...you gotta have EHC. I don't think you need many variations though. Tan body. Size 14 and 16. That'll do it, but put a lot of those in the box.

Terrestrials - In the summer and early fall, when the water gets low and clear, terrestrials will usually outfish anything else. Ants, beetles, inchworms.

Subsurface: Standard streamer, wetfly, and nymph patterns. No need to get fancy or carry lots of them, but just carry some of the standards, for when the brookies aren't hitting on top.

 

[foxtrapper1972]

Pressured Brook Trout are as hard to catch as any other trout. Try your Royal Wulff or Chernobyl Ant up in the ditch at Big Spring and see how you make out.

 

[troutbert]

ryansheehan wrote:

troutbert wrote:
There was an article back in the early 1990s or so by a skilled PA flyfisher about brookie fishing that was really good.

It mentioned all of the standard truisms about brookie fishing:

1) You only need short casts.

2) You only short, stout leaders.

3) It makes no difference what fly you use.

Then said: these things are all wrong. People say these things a lot, but they simply don't match what we've seen on the brookie streams.

I read that and thought, EXACTLY! I've always been puzzled by those statements too. They never seemed right to me.

Medium and even long casts are often useful.

Medium and long leaders are often useful.

And the type of fly can often make a huge difference. So it's good to carry a good variety. It's important to have some different "categories" of flies:

Big Bushies: Whether that's Stimulators or something else, like a Humpy, isn't so important, but it's important to have some in this general category, for high and/or broken water.

Parachutes: Extremely versatile, work well in a wide range of conditions. From pretty low through the medium flows to pretty high. Very good when there are mayflies around. And there are often are some, sometimes a lot. Not all brookie streams are infertile. Two main body color variations are needed: Mediumish (hares ear tan) Lightish: Yellow

Elkhair caddis - Because...you gotta have EHC. I don't think you need many variations though. Tan body. Size 14 and 16. That'll do it, but put a lot of those in the box.

Terrestrials - In the summer and early fall, when the water gets low and clear, terrestrials will usually outfish anything else. Ants, beetles, inchworms.

Subsurface: Standard streamer, wetfly, and nymph patterns. No need to get fancy or carry lots of them, but just carry some of the standards, for when the brookies aren't hitting on top.

So basically the fly doesn't matter.........

What are you doing? Explain yourself.

 

[ryansheehan]

I thought it was self explanatory but I guess not. You're writing that you need different categories of flies but not specific ones. When people say the fly doesn't matter that is EXACTLY what we mean. I think you are taking that statement way to literal. Bring generic versatile patterns(just as you described)and you will be fine. You're not going to need to switch from a 20 comparadun to a parachute to be successful. That situation is where the fly does matter. Fox brings up a good point about big spring brookies they are a different animal.

 

[SteveG]

Except that they murder Chernobyl ants there haha

 

[foxtrapper1972]

Trying to picture those spooky BS Brook Trout coming up in that clear water and fighting over a Chernobyl Ant.
Maybe? Is that the new go to fly at BS? I'll have to buy some. Do you fish them on 3x? Fluoro or nylon?

 

[SteveG]

I have a buddy that fishes them a lot, and does well there. Some will laugh or not believe me, but he usually uses either 3 or 4x nylon, on a shooting taper flyline. He catches some nice fish on the Letort with that rig too lol. It's basically a hopper I guess. I can't say whether it's a go to fly, as I've moved a little further away, and between the extra drive time and stream changes there, I don't go out of my way to fish it much anymore.

I wasn't a believer in "secret flies" before I started hanging out with him, but he has showed me some patterns over the years that he ties for specific waters, and they work where intended.

 

[troutbert]

ryansheehan wrote:
I thought it was self explanatory but I guess not. You're writing that you need different categories of flies but not specific ones. When people say the fly doesn't matter that is EXACTLY what we mean. I think you are taking that statement way to literal. Bring generic versatile patterns(just as you described)and you will be fine. You're not going to need to switch from a 20 comparadun to a parachute to be successful. That situation is where the fly does matter. Fox brings up a good point about big spring brookies they are a different animal.

Thanks for the explanation.

And I agree that in brookie fishing you're "You're not going to need to switch from a 20 comparadun to a parachute to be successful."

But there are times when switching from a #12 Adams to a #12 deer-hair beetle will increase your catch enormously. Like ten-fold. Day and night difference.

 

[foxtrapper1972]

Don't mind me I'm just having a meltdown about that Chernobyl Ant.

The Brook Trout in Big Fishing Creek can be as selective as Brown Trout at times. I've seen them eating BWOs or stoneflies and that is what they want.... Patriots, EHC, Royal Coachmen be damned.

If trout were always easy fly fishing would not be as fun.

 

[Wild_Trouter]

I really like Stimulators #12-#14 in yellow, tan, or royal. Klinkhammers with fluor orange, pink or green posts in #14, Cracklebacks #12-#14, Hi-Vis Adams #14, Hot Spot Foam Bettles, Mickey Finns and Miniature Beadhead Woolybuggers.

 

[troutbert]

I talked a nice old guy who guided in Shenandoah Park & his wife also guided.

He told me that they figured out that in the Park, as general purpose patterns for brookies, the Parachute Adams had a clearly noticeable edge over the Elk Hair Caddis.

A friend and I had fished 3 days down there and we had noticed the same thing. Both caught brookies. But the Parachute Adams did significantly better.

Another thing I noticed was that on Camp Run in SW PA, which is in a special regulation water which was heavily fished, the brookie behavior was very different than usually found on similar streams.

I was using some standard dry and was getting occasional chases and bumps, but it wasn't going well. I went to 6x leader, which I seldom do for brookies, and something smaller than I usually fish, like an #18 BWO comparadun, and started catching fish.

They were a pretty "tough crowd" as the saying goes.

 

[SteveG]

Oh I did too Fox, especially on the Letort lol. I agree about BFC. I don't know the percentage of brown vs brookoes there, but I rarely catch brookies in there.

I think their reputation is formed from people fishing for them in less fertile freestoners, especially in the absence of browns. I'm my experience anyway, browns of equivalent size act similar to the brookies, on mixed streams they're less fertile. Except the ones that are a few years old and dominate logjams or deep pools lol.