Got around to some fly tying the other night. Pheasant tails were running low so I tied a few up. I was sitting there thinking how many fish on different bodies and styles of water this thing has caught. I also came to realize that if I could only fish one fly for the rest of my life this thing would be it. So I pose the question to you tiers out there but I will give you 5 spots. One fly is just too narrow a spectrum....so if you only had 5 flies to fish for the rest of your life, what would they be?
1. X2 caddis 2. Adams 3. Stimulator 4. Trina's Yellow Sally 5. Jimmy legs
If I only had five flies to fish the rest of my life they would only be dry flies. But if I got hungry and needed some food I would tie on a Jimmy legs!!
I don't know what i would put but most probably seeing as i f fished putah a bunch lots of midges....Anyway here we go
1-FBPT
2-Hogan's S&M
3-ZB Midge
4-CP John..(Red if I had to choose a colour!!)
5-Fox's poopah
(6- One dry for a non-dry guy ...Missing link Caddis)
I do however have a feeling when one of our illustrious fellows chimes in on this debate the the "Lambroughton PT" might be mentioned!!Â
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"Three-fourths of the Earth's surface is water, and one-fourth is land. It is quite clear that the good Lord intended us to spend triple the amount of time fishing as taking care of the lawn." - Anon.
Damn it's hard to come up with just 5 flies. Although two I had picked weren't producing anymore and were acting up so I put them on waivers and replaced them with the bugger and pupae. LOL
Here are mine. Since we only get 5, I am thinking general patterns and assume we could have them in any size or color we want.
1. Flashback PT
2. Flashback hare's ear
3. CB bird's nest
4. Fox's Pupah
5. Wooly bugger
Even though I really like fishing dries, I have found that even when the fish are hitting dries you can catch them with the above by suspending the nymph close to the surface, or swinging it wet fly style. I feel confident if I could have any size and color of these flies I would rarely not catch fish - particularly at PC!
Thanks for chiming in and bringing this thread back Multi. Ahh, the venerable birds nest, one of my all time MVP's. It's on the second list of 5. Pit river crusher. I'm having some sort of renaissance lately with the older flies. I'm bringing em back. Even though the sparkle pupae is popular still it origins are old, as well as the zug bug and bird nest.Â
First on my 2nd list of 5 would be the Quigley Cripple. I am very reluctant to even use that name in public since many flyfisherman have no clue as to how awesome Bob Quigley's many patterns are. However, in the name of sharing I am putting that out. Of all the dries/emergers I've used at PC, that is the one I've caught the most on. One day, I landed almost 20 fish on it, 12 of which were very big browns.
Maybe you need to start a new thread of best 5 nymphs, best 5 dries. Might be interesting.....
Cole, I think you'll be happy with the Quigley Callibaetis Cripple. I've been using it for years at Manzanita and it's been a very effective fly. I've also used a Quigley PMD cripple and a BWO cripple with good success. BTW, there are two ways I've see the fly tied. Some tiers tie the hackle over the deer (or elk) hair wing; others tie the hackle first and then tie in the deer hair on top of the hackle. I use the latter method.
There is irony in nohackle's advice on how to put the hackle on a Quigley. You'd think he would skip that step.
The Q Callibaetis Cripple is probably the one I've had most experience with tying and experimenting with. Some thoughts:
1. Try using med dun marabou for the trailing shuck. I use the stuff at the base of dun turkey flats.  Another enhancement with this is to dub some additional marabou on the abdomen.  The rear part of the fly looks like a mess, but man does it catch fish!
2. Cut off the hackle on the underside of the fly. A friend calls this "V-notching" the hackle. This makes the fly sit correctly in the water and have a more realistic impression in the film. I do this with almost all of my dry flies.
3. Tie a Mercer Poxyback Callibaetis (I leave off the epoxy, the fish apparently don't care) on the end of the Cripple to the appropriate depth, usually 18" for a deadly stillwater combo. This is my go-to rig at places like Lewiston Lake and Manzanita when callibaetis are coming off. Expect to get occassional double hookups if the fish are seriously eating.
I should also add that the exact same fly works pretty well on the Yuba for the March Browns.Â
Thanks for the advice Nohackle and multi. I have been playing with different methods to make it a faster tie. Those are some really good ideas from both of you. Manzanita is the exact body of water I had in mind for that fly. Not to mention I just figured out there were some cruising Putah this summer as well. Man I can't wait for spring up north again. First I have to get through the next 6 weeks of work and those elusive coastal fish in Jan/Feb. My new pontoon is chirping at me from the back patio.
Cole, since you started this thread by talking about the PT nymph and you are intending to fish Manzanita, you may want to try a PT in both dyed yellow and natural. They both are effective callibaetis nymphs and they have worked really well for me at Manzanita.
Speaking of classics, I was at PC yesterday and the fish were all over a particular classic during a pretty good BWO hatch. About 5 years ago, a local fly shop in Santa Rosa was selling a lot of their fly inventory at .10/fly so I invested a few bucks and bought a bunch of them. Had the classic mayfly nymph on top and a Hogan mayfly nymph on the bottom. The classic got almost all the attention and the fish seemed to hit it with reckless abandon. At one point I counted 9 straight takes.
Since everyone is fishing these new great and innovative flies by Brown, Mercer etc., the ignored classics have been a "Back to the Future" experience for me. Just goes to show you: if the fish are feeding and you put something of the right shape, size and color in their face, they will eat it!Â
Yep the old flies have been forgotten for the new stuff. Exactly what I was saying in another thread when I mentioned Shane Stalcup. There's a lot of older materials that are shiny, catch bubbles and some are natural as well. Although I do love some of the newer stuff. Ice dub has to be my favorite synthetic at this point. Idylwilde has a fly called the "idylwilde cased caddis" and if I'm not mistaken that is John Hazel's pattern although he gets no credit on the website for it. I won't go north without a half dozen tied up. I mentioned Lafontaine's sparkle pupae in my 5 favorites. I can't tell you how many times that fly has saved me when nothing else worked the last couple seasons....
I've had good success with that pattern on the Pit in the middle of the day when nothing else seems to work. It's also worked for me on the Yuba, swinging it has produced some violant grabs.
By the way, from 1990 to 92-3'ish, the green scud was THE fly for putah creek. Nothing else came close.
Cole Davis wrote:
Yep the old flies have been forgotten for the new stuff. Exactly what I was saying in another thread when I mentioned Shane Stalcup. There's a lot of older materials that are shiny, catch bubbles and some are natural as well. Although I do love some of the newer stuff. Ice dub has to be my favorite synthetic at this point. Idylwilde has a fly called the "idylwilde cased caddis" and if I'm not mistaken that is John Hazel's pattern although he gets no credit on the website for it. I won't go north without a half dozen tied up. I mentionedin my 5 favorites. I can't tell you how many Lafontaine's sparkle pupae times that fly has saved me when nothing else worked the last couple seasons....
Â
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