Top Flies???

[Elevated83]

I'm getting back into fly fishing for trout,and I was wondering what are the top 5 dry flies, top 5 wet flies and top 5 streamers for central and western pa streams?

 

[troutpoop]

Usual, Caddis, Adams, Sulpher and BWO cdc emerger
They seem to cover most of my dry action. They are tied in different sizes and colors.

 

[troutpoop]

AW crap, I have a host of midges too. Not sure where to squeeze those into the list. Most of those are black.

 

[Elevated83]

Thank you troutpoop.

 

[McSneek]

Top Five Streamers:

1. Woolly Bugger
2. Wooly Bugger
3. Woolly Bugger
4. Woolly Bugger
5. Woolly Bugger

Seriously - you can't go wrong with an assortment of colors - black, olive and white.

I would probably throw in a few Muddler Minnows and maybe some slump busters.

 

[McSneek]

For wet flies I would go with some partridge soft hackles in assorted colors - olive, orange and yellow are good. A gold ribbed hare's ear wet is good. Caddis pupa imitations.

If you are also including nymphs as wet flies - pheasant tail, hare's ear and caddis pupa.

 

[pszy22]

For what it’s worth, I have a slightly different perspective. I only fish a couple of patterns 95% of the time. I like to fish a very generic looking fly, something that looks a little bit like a lot of different things. As long as it more or less looks like something good to eat, fish will give it a try.

I will fish a specific looking fly if there is a blanket hatch going on, but at least where I fish, that tends to be the exception, rather than the rule. More often than not, there are a number of different food forms in and on the water, and because of that - the fish tend not to be overly selective. Of course, you mileage may vary depending on where you fish.

One of the couple of flies I fish is a pattern shown to me by Carl Richards, co-author of the book Selective Trout. It’s a pattern called a Chicago Leech. Mr. Richards said it was the most effective wet pattern he had ever fished, and he fished it often, over many of the more exacting patterns he had developed. I looks a little bit like a lot of things – minnow, leech, stonefly nymph, crawdad, etc.

The one thing I will add, I find it much more important to try a wide variety of presentations, I very rarely fish a fly dead drift. I change presentations often, sometimes on the same cast, I very rarely change what fly I am fishing. Again, this philosophy may not work for everyone, everywhere; but it does work well for me.

Have fun,

 

[Elevated83]

Thanks Everyone. Great Information. I currently have tied over 20 different patterns in different colors. But I'm looking to make a go to box for when stream, hatch specific patterns aren't working. So far I have tied in different sizes the following: adams, zebra midge, frenchie, wooly worm, wooly buggers, brassie, royal wulff, red tag,
different egg patterns (more for steelhead), a corn kernel fly ( in research of flies found the pattern made for stockies, haven't tried it yet).

 

[dryflyguy]

For dries -

You would likely be able to get by most times with:
1) - a gray mayfly pattern, like an adams
2) - a light colored mayfly pattern, like a sulpher
3) - a tan caddis
4) - a gray caddis for the darker ones - and I also use this for matching stonefly hatches
5) - a beetle

 

[afishinado]

here


and here

 

[BTRobertson]

Someone told me Hellgrammites are very good in PA streams, but I'm not sure what size or color...probably various like anything else. In places where bass are present, Hellgrammites will likely attract them as well (which means I won't use them in the Yough where I'll be doing some fly-fishing because I don't want bass slamming my rod and breaking my tippets).

 

[GenCon]

Oh, by all means use them. Catching a nice SM bass is a bonus. They wont break your tippet any more than a trout will. Try a black wooly bugger a simple but effective pattern which many folks use to imitate a hellgrimmite. Use a tippet size based on the size of your fly.

GC