Go-to fly patterns for trout?

[beer30]

Just wanna say I am also a big fan of the blowtorch and bumps with a lot of hackle

[skifishbum]

Although, usually what I’m throwing is whatever Lumpy or SFB ties on for me. Heh.

whatevers i tie on im gonna recomend you present it in a manner that gits eaten
and

[Bunion 2020]

How about a hopper/dropper?

[TBS]

I’m generally fishing the Metolius or Upper McKenzie in Central OR
lots of brush and not much room for backcast

So I generally go with a dropper rig and water haul
Stonefly nymph to get deep fast
Otherwise, Stonefly, big-ass Drake or chubby Chernobyl for dry
Hares ear or Prince on the end

[steved]

white wulff
golden retriever
_________
Hornberg
_________
copper john
zebra midge
my mono-bloodknot midge
_________
x-caddis/madam-x
spent partridge caddis
_________
henry's fork golden stone
orange stimulator
chubby chernobyl
_________
various hoppers

[ak_powder_monkey]

I basically use like 6 things

Beads (ugh)
Size 10 purple haze
Size 10 thunder creek
Size 10 Battle creek
Dirty Hoh
Size 14 chartruse copper john

Fishing in AK is pretty simple. I do use a variety of other things too, but if fish don't eat those they probably aren't hungry.

[lemmycaution]

frenchies
perdigons
perdigons
perdigons

with trout-big hook=small fish, small hook=big fish
however, if nothing is happening, mop fly ftw

[I've seen black diamonds!]

I've been tying with feathers from my chickens and other found feathers along with hair from my dog. Haven't quite figure out the pics...

The Stinky Stone (dog hair, copper wire, rubber legs, ice dub, cdc):

Gold:


Black:


Stormo-the-abnormo (chicken butt feathers for the tail and body, rubber legs, shiny stuffy, ice dub) Named after my oddest chicken, Stormo, who supplied the feathers. This one looks a little funky after being chewed on by a few brown trout, but that just makes me like it more:


The Eh-fly (Canada goose biots and herl from a wad of feathers I found near a bald eagle nest):


Goose biot body parachute adams:


Note: I claim no originality with these patterns, nor talent nor skill. I do claim amusement in catching fish with flies made of stuff that falls off my dog, chickens and other random animals. If you come across any interesting feathers of fur let me know. If it peaks my interest I'll pay for shipping.

[Harry]

^ wow. That is very cool.

[Johnny H]

Those all kill it BD. Well done. I like the Stinky Stone best of all.

[MakersTeleMark]

I put some rug hair, probably mine, on a snagging triple barbed rig for shits and giggles and tried to pass it off as the midwestern high runoff trout killer to 2 different uber guides passing by this week. Got some great chuckles, but they wouldn't even barely hold it in their hands. No sense of humor I say.

[I've seen black diamonds!]

Here is one more I've been working on. I'm calling it the Indicaddis since it makes a good indicator even at moderate sizes. I haven't invented anything terribly new, but I have borrowed some techniques that work pretty well together:


I'm not a fan of the elk hair caddis. I think it floats too high, which is fine on faster water, but toss it into flat water and I get more refusals than I'd like. I strongly prefer lower-floating caddis patterns in those situations. But I'm greedy I want one fly that can hold up a dropper in turbulent little pocket, but still ride low and pretty in the frog water. I also want more visibility, especially in smaller sizes. And I don't want something super difficult to tie. Basically, I want the caddis version of of the Parachute Adams. I'd just tie a parachute caddis, but I find those don't work well in moderate or small sizes.

I started with some (not so) rigorous prototype testing:


A clear winner emerged...er...didn't sink (It's really just a CDC + elk hair caddis with a foam-wrapped body and some pink EP fibers so it stands out in the foam line):


2mm Foam:


Wrap it loosely and tie off. A little super glue let you keep it snug with less tension on the wraps:


Tie in 2-3 CDC puffs on the top of each side (so 4-6 total). This give a more caddis-like profile and lets some of the fibers hang below the hook shank as "legs." You can leave the CDC a bit long and trim (or not) later to match the elk hair you'll put on top:




Make an elk hair caddis wing of the usual type- you need a big head! Otherwise the front of the fly will sink. I think it's easier to trim the hair to length before you tie it on. Otherwise you need to use a razor blade to get the bushy head right:


Tie in EP fibers at the front of the wing, then fold the front half back and wrap a few times. I trim off any elk hair that is lower than the hook shank but leave the CDC that hangs down. I have been trimming the CDC to length so it matches the elk hair, but I doubt it matters:


You don't need a lot of EP fibers. When viewed from the bottom they should be pretty much invisible.


Anyway. It floats low but well, is easy to see, has a good profile, and It catches fish. And it gives me something to do while my back is killing me.

Edit to add: make sure you use CDC- friendly floatant. Gink makes CDC wad up. Dry magic works well.

[Meadow Skipper]

Here is one more I've been working on. I'm calling it the Indicaddis since it makes a good indicator even at moderate sizes..

Indicator? That wasn’t what I expected, but great name.

[I've seen black diamonds!]

Indicator? That wasn’t what I expected, but great name.

I checked the internet to make sure the name wasn't taken and was surprised to find no one had claimed it. It deserves a better tyer than me...

By "indicator" I mean that it holds up well as the dry in a dry-dropper set up, especially compared to other flies that float low, have a fairly small profile and don't use any hackle. And it is easy to see. It won't replace your bobber any time soon, though.

Recently I've been doing well fishing a dry dropper on a euro rig. The dry fly fishing has been good near me, but water is high and fast and more often than not I struggle to get a good drift if I put fly line of the water. The spots that are easier to fish see a zillion casts a day while the rest of the river goes mostly untouched. So I'm plunking my flies into pockets a long leader with a long rod with good results. I need a weighted nymph to be able to cast (I'm not casting any fly line at all), but the trout haven't been eating big dries yet. So I need a medium-small fly that can suspend some weight. Also, in the back eddies where a lot of trout are hanging out the fish have plenty of time to check out your fly. It needs to be buggy and not too big.

[stapes]

That’s a winner ISBD! Kinda reminds me of Zimmerman’s Clown Shoe Caddis. Which I believe was invented on similar, if not the same, local water.

And I’m w/ MS. I was thinking indica was the inspiration.