question: Top 5 flies

[fflutterffly]

Mike! olololololol I'm sure you look dashing.
OK Otter, you didn't cheat on the question, and of course it is right (if there is a right) but can you be a little more introspective, more concise. Promise I won't check your fly box!

[DUBBN]

WET FLYS:
1. Muskrat
2. Hares Ear
3. Caddis Pupa
4. PT
5. Woolly Bugger (Black)

I kept it to wet flys, but had to throw in the Woolly Bugger. If nymphs and emergers had been included in the list, only one on the list would have made the cut. Drys? I rarely fish them.

[William Anderson]

The first time I opened this thread it took me a second to realize, I might not be able to pick. Seriously...top 5? But just now, it came to me easily.

1. Hare's Ear Softy
2. Hare's Ear Nymph
3. Amber or Copper wired body softy, Starling hackle, mole thorax.
4. Pheasant tail and Partridge
5. Black Gnat or William's Favorite

Stranded in post-Armageddon Central PA...this would be my set.

[Bluesdude59]

Tough to narrow down fellas, but for me, over all seasonal patterns:

GR Hare's ear flymph
Pheasant tail soft hackle
Gold rib peacock and furnace softy
Orange Fish Hawk
Cahill Flymph

Course this is New Jersey Waters talking...

[William Anderson]

Blues dude, nice list, and a big welcome. Care to share a recipe or pic of your choices? I'm not familiar with the orange fish hawk and would like to hear about your cahill pattern.

[overmywaders]

I'm new on the forum and still getting accustomed to life in 2009 (haven't I been here before) but I must say that the wet fly choices already mentioned would probably cover any trout fishing I might do in rivers.
There is one pattern I favor that still catches fish after hundreds of years - the Gray Palmer. We know it in the US as the "Wooly Worm". It seems to have fallen into disuse, you seldom hear it mentioned anymore. Still, IMO, a pattern/style worth carrying.

I don't know if I will agree with the above in 2012.

[flyfishwithme]

Oh Mike sweetie, you don't have to be so serious. Let your hair down a little. This is just for fun.
I like all the suggested flies.

I don't have enough hair to let down any more, I lost most of it worrying about which were the best flies!

TL
MC

I just love this reply. Rolling on the floor at the moment.

Mike is right though, what works for one angler may be different for another. What works on one stream may well be different on the next. What take fish in the morning may not work in the evening.

That is why we tie so many flies.

I have tried to cull down the patterns that I carry and the least I can get to is 20 patterns to cover all the situations I would encounter on the stream I fish.

But, having said that, there are at least 5 that seem to work in most situations:

Top of the class is the Greenwells Spider (winged of course). Fished on the top dropper this fly accounts for the greatest % of fish I catch.

Next it is a close call between a Waterhen Bloa and a Orange Partridge. These two I usually fish on the point.

Right three down two to go.

Now this is where is gets really tough and to be truthful a little blurred. I could name the Dark Snipe, Harelug and Woodcock, light & dark Sedge or even a red and Waterhen as our rivers are peat coloured most of the time. Oh no I have left off a Sawyers Black Spider and my own Needle Fly. Hang on a minute what about Hares Ear and Plover and my Kite. Mike is right - too difficult.

You see, 5 is just two difficult for me. Three I can do but not 5. Sorry.

Philip

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Of all the flies I carry, the ones that get wet the most are:

1. Baillie's Black Spider
2. Greenwell's Spider
3. Peacock and Starling Soft Hackle
4. Pheasant Tail and Furnace Soft Hackle
5. PMD Flymph

[overmywaders]

Someone asked about the Orange Fishhawk pattern. That was popular back when I was a kid, but you don't see it often, at least I haven't, in the fly shops today. I carry some in my fly box because "When in doubt, offer orange." J.B. Martin, owner of classictrout.com has a good tie of the fly here - http://www.classictrout.com/wetflies/o/ ... wk_wet.php Personally, I use two turns of hackle, but probably should use just one.

J.B. doesn't say so, but I'll bet that the floss he uses is silk and produces a dark, translucent-orange body when wet.

Regards,
Reed

[Soft-hackle]

Reed,
Check-out my article, here: http://www.flyanglersonline.com/feature ... art402.php.

I learned of the pattern from Bergman. It's a great fly, highly touted by Ray to take, browns, brooks and bows.

I've not answered the query, so here's my list:
Leisenring's Black Gnat
Orange Fish Hawk
My- Lil' Dorothy
Tups indispensible
Han's Partridge and Olive Emerger.

I could go on.

Mark