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3. Favorite fly

Do any of you guys have a favorite fly? I don't necessarily mean the one that is the most consistently productive in your box, I mean the one pattern that seems to hold some kind of magic to you, the pattern that you find yourself reaching for even when it doesn't seem to be the right choice given the situation. Not because you think it will work better than anything else, but just because you like fishing with it.

For me that fly is the Ausable Wulff. It's an attractor dry that I've come across on a couple trips up to the Adirondacks-it really seems to be about the only fly some folks use on the pocket-water rivers up there. I bought a bunch of them from a great little fly shop in Wilmington, New York, and I've been hooked on them ever since. I use them for bluegill on the local ponds (even picking up a bass on them once in awhile), rainbows on the wild trout creeks, and I've even relied on them to catch trout in notoriously technical spring creek type waters. It's not an imitative pattern (it's just a couple clicks away from the Royal Wulff) but I just have a tremendous level of confidence when I fish it that I don't have with any other fly in my box. I have no idea why.

Do you guys have any flies like that?

Motrout-

Yeah, I've got one like that. It's a lake fly called the Olive Willy.

Nice looking fly. It looks like one of those patterns that would work for any number of different species.

Motrout,
You have selected one of the best patterns, ever. The Ausable Wulff was created by the late Fran Betters of Wilmington, NY especially for the pocket water on the Ausable. Fran developed it because he said there were many flies that hatched on the river that had a very distinctive rusty orange tint in their bodies. I met Fran many years ago in his shop in Wilmington and purchased two of the pattern to get the body color correct. I have seen it sold in numerous catalogs, but it was never tied as Fran originally tied it, thread of fluorescent red, cinnamon colored body of Australian opossum, wings of upright calf's tail, tail of mature woodchuck tail, and hackles mixed brown and grizzly.

I've used this pattern on my home water with great success. Fran also delevoped other "Ausable" patterns including a wonderful caddis pattern. Fran passed away this past year, and here is my variation of a great pattern: Ausable Spider:



Mark

Favorite fly? Any one of my own invention that catches fish. Nothing like catching them on your own pattern, even if you catch fewer fish. And when your fly catches more fish than the old standbys, it's pretty special.

-Shawn

Nice fly, softhackle. I've never seen the Ausable Spider, but it's a really pretty fly and I bet it would work too.

I have heard lots of stories about Fran Betters, but I'm afraid to say I never did get a chance to meet him. He really is a legend up in those parts and originated a lot of really good patterns. And whether he intended them to or not, they work in waters around the country.

On that note, could someone please teleport me to the West Branch of the Ausable in Wilmington? Just give me a few #12 Ausable Wulffs, and make it a late evening in the middle of June. That's heaven right there.

By Shawn's definition, mine would have to be Jonathon's Killer Bass Fly, of course. After all, I did catch the biggest smallmouth bass of my life on one this summer, a 19 1/2" beauty I estimated to weigh about 5 pounds. And for those of you who haven't heard this story, the fly got it's name from a 20", 5 1/2 lb. largemouth I caught on it in Texas in 2005. As they say, nothing succeeds like success.

Jonathon

Motrout,
Just as a side note. The Spider creation is my own based on the materials used in the original dry fly Fran tied.

Mark

Mark,

I've said this before, but you can really tell there is an artist lurking behind your creations...That fly is simple, elegant, perfectly proportioned and I'll bet will catch fish anytime of the day or night!

That's my favorite fly...For today anyway :)

Spence

My bad Softhackle. Didn't mean to credit someone else with the fly- I just misunderstood your post.

Got to be the Wooly Bugger! It's beautiful, very moving, catches the fish, and simply just a day maker! The soft hackle is a killer to though.

Yes, Mark, a very pretty fly. I love the aesthetic of your tying.

-Shawn

Madam X, great summer fly. Good after sundown as well.

Thanks Spence, Shawnny, Motrout.

While I love the Ausable Wulff and find it very productive, I can not say it's my favorite fly. There are just so many that work well. I guess if I had to select only one it'd be the Leisenring Spider. By far, this fly has taken many fish for me and some real beauties to say the least.


This is a photo of one tied on a regular wet fly hook

Leisenring Spider
This link shows a larger photo and gives the dressing.

It is not my own pattern, but it sure does work. I carry a number of these in three sizes, and I am very seldom disappointed when I fish one. Tying season will be upon us, soon, and everyone should consider whipping up a few. The link shows one tied on a short hook, but it can also be tied on a standard wet fly hook. It's a winner!

Mark

Ok mister! Those three sizes would be...what?

Spence

For the fun of it...Maybe at the end of this upcoming tying season we all should do a fly swap...Not really enough to fish but as models for our collections. I have kept flies friends have tied and given me to try over the years and I've labeled them and they are tucked away somewhere. When I first started tying I used flies tied by my mentor and if mine began to look just like his I knew I was finally getting in to the ballpark. A so called, "fishable fly"...:) Maybe over this winter, when we are tying up a dozen of something we like, maybe do an extra half-doz and take the best 6 out of there and trade them...Just a thought.

I still have the fly I used on the Madison in 1995 to catch a 23.5" Brown I posted in the post, "The West is the Best"...I was on a float and the day wasn't going so well. The guide Eric (manager of Madison River Fishing Co in Ennis) tied on a "secret fly" and asked me to not look at it...A so-called "guides fly"...When I caught the nice fish he decided I had to have the fly and it was called something like "Egor (pronounced A-gor) the Magnificent"...I found it last weekend as I was digging in one of a million fly fishing "junk" boxes looking for some wader patch.

Hi Spence,
Well, 10, 12, 14 definitely and occasionally 16 if I think I'll need it where I'm fishing. This Leisenring Spider represents many aquatic insects from various mayflies to caddis, so size variation often helps. The size 10 is most effective early in the year, and as the season gets on the 12s & 14s are highly favored.

I noticed the dressing shown does not tell what color thread the body is dubbed to. It's "Primrose Yellow" Gossamer or a pale yellow.

Mark

If we define this choice as the fly we most enjoy fishing regardless of whether it is always the best choice, I most enjoy fishing a size 10 deerhair ant. I like the splat, I like the v-wake of the fish moving for it and I like the idea that it is at its best in places where most other flies do not perform well, the slow, deeper sections along stream banks.

If we define this choice as the fly we have the most confidence in as a searching dry fly, my pick would be a simple hare's ear parachute (HE body, Adam's hackle combo, poly or calf tail post and a sparse moose body hair tail, kinda short) in sizes #14-18. Over the years, it's been equally deadly for me in PA, WI, IA, OR, UT, NC, VA and TN.

I wouldn't leave home without at least 100 of them..:)

I ask the trout that every day, sometimes every hour. :)

Lee,

A quick story re your largish ant...I was floating the N Branch of the Au Sable 4/5 years back with a friend in his Au Sable river boat...I was fishing to match the Sulphers and my friend told me to toss back my flyline for a moment. He tied on this fly that looked like a wasp!

When we stopped for lunch we walked up to this old cabin and all over the wall were Brown Drakes and these huge flying Carpenter Ants! I told this story to my fishing mentor once I made it back to Detroit and he said that sort of thing comes from working the river everyday and knowing the river...

Carpenter Ants were not on my radar that day, but, like you, I seldom walk to the river without a few ants tucked somewhere in one of my boxes.

Spence

Beautiful fly Softhackle. While certainly artistic, it looks like it would do an excellent job on the stream.

I think I'll tie a couple of those up this winter.