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3. Most Overrated Fly

We constantly hear of what works in the way of fly patterns, and have our own experiences of success with certain types. But what in your experience is the most overrated fly? In other words, what fly is allegedly very good in a certain application but hasn't really done anything for you? At the risk of sounding blasphemous I would have to go with the Gold Ribbed Hares Ear Nymph. I have tried this fly I can't remember how many times in how many sizes with little to show for it.

Outdoors198 wrote,



Yep, you are a heretic! 100%. The very first trout that I ever caught on a fly on the first No Kill section of the Beaverkill back in 1965 was on a #12 GRHE. I had no idea what a "drag free float" and cast the fly into the current and let it hand straight down below me in the swift water of Horse Neck Brook. I was rewarded with a jolting strike of a 14" brown trout.

Over the last fifty years I can say conservatively I have caught over 1000 trout on the GRHE. Not bad for a fly that you have had little success using. The biggest steelhead I ever caught on Elk Creek in PA was 29" and weighted about 11# and the largest ever brown trout on the Salmon River weighed an estimated (by others) 16# and was both caught on a #10 light GRHE.

I have found over the decades that fly effectiveness, in most cases, is a resultant of fly confidence. Now of course if you tie a pink and orange nymph or streamer, dry fly, etc. the likelihood of having very much success in a typical trout stream is probably going to be quite limited. But if you stick with traditional colors, hook sizes from #10 - #18, are effective in getting the fly down into the strike zone, achieve a good drift. and try to emulate the aquatic life found in that waterway there is a very good likelihood that the GRHE, or whatever other flies you have used will begin catching trout.

Here is the 29" hen steelhead caught in a stream entering Lake Erie on a #10 GRHE.

Hahaha yup I knew I was one! I'm sure my lack of confidence in it is huge for me. I keep trying it cause I know all the fish people have caught on it isn't a fluke! I'm sure I'll eventually begin catching fish on it so I keep on faithfully tying it on... Occasionally ;). Now hold on a minute there Matt you never listed your overrated fly!

Hello Outdoors,



There are no overrated flies, only overrated fly fishermen! Haha!

If I had to list a fly I have had much less success with than others it would be the Matuka.

For me, it's been CDC anything. Probably I'm just not tying or fishing it right, but for something so supposedly buoyant I have a heck of a time keeping it from getting slimed and sinking.

Jason wrote;



That is odd. Maybe it is the grade , or type, of CDC you are using. I don't like what the fly catalogs call "CDC Oiler Puffs". They are very short CDC feathers about 1/2" - 3/4" long. Initially I thought they were very neat because they are short with thin stems. I tied dozen of duns with them but they don't float the fly well and are harder to dry and fluff up than the longer CDC feathers. IMO the best CDC feathers available on-line are sold by Rene Harrop out of Trouthunters in Last Chance, ID. I buy 1/4 ounce bags for $17.50 and one bag lasts me about a year.

The only time I have trouble floating them is after they get slimed up from a fish. If they just get waterlogged I dry the excess water out on my shirt cuff and false cast it a few times and it is again floating high. When it gets slimed up I wash it off in the river, blot off the excess water, dip it into a desiccant, false cast twice and lay it down on the water.

Mostly CDC wings - all PMD emergers of one style or another.

I've always thought Prince nymphs and Muddler Minnows were overrated.

But all this stuff is highly subjective and it may well be that the next guy you ask will tell you all he needs to catch any trout in the stream are Prince nymphs and Muddlers. I don't actually know anybody who feels this way, but its a lead pipe cinch that somebody somewhere believes this...

So far as dry flies are concerned, I was always disappointed with Harry Murray's Mr. Rapidan which did not seem a very effective fly even on the specific waters for which it was designed (Shenandoah NP streams). But again, I'm sure there is an angler somewhere who catches piles of Shenandoah brook trout on the Mr. Rapidan and swears by it.

I've never seen a need for CDC in my tying or fishing. For those applications where the two materials overlap in their utility, I much prefer snowshoe rabbit or one of several synthetics. And anyway, when I was a kid, we always had a dozen or so Muscovy ducks waddling around. They were my friends and I will not be part of any trend or movement that aims to disfigure them.

That's why I find people's answers so interesting...because it's so subjective and different from one person to the next.

This very same question came up on a bass site recently, pertaining to bass lures. Interesting -fascinating to me- that the ones listed as failures were others GoTo's. Says a lot about how naturally superstitious anglers can be. And we come by it honestly: What goes on under the water and in fish's brains is certainly a great mystery. Which is part of what keeps this angler casting.

I've tried very hard over the years to rid myself of superstition -or at least recognize it when it rears its head. I can be rather harsh about it too -within myself. Lucky hats? -no way. Six vs seven turns on a given knot? Nope -I'm not giving in to the OCD itch, although I see that "ailment" as probably having some real function in such a complex and dangerous world (once upon a time).

Why do anglers fail to catch on certain lures? Because they haven't fished them enough, recognized the places and times they shine, or sheer underconfidence. Underconfidence and ADD go hand in hand in the angling world.

GRHE: One of my GoTo steelhead flies is what I call a "Plume-Tail Hares Ear" -essentially a HE with a mottled 'bou tail. The thing writhes seductively -and catches steelhead too. :)

Anything with a gold bead. Probably a function of where I fish the most.

Does this mean you don't nymph fish or where you fish it isn't conducive to fish beaded nymphs? I could say the same thing since I don't typically nymph anywhere on the Delaware system but will tie on beaded nymphs for PA stocked waters, steelhead, and hang a little #18 BHPT off the back of a PMD in Montana.

It just means that I don't have much success fishing flies with a gold bead. And yes in my local spring creeks I don't do much nymphing but if a do want to get a fly down, I will use a bead, but almost always a black one. I've never seen a mayfly nymph with a bright gold head... ;)

Muddler minnow

No, me neither but then I've never seen a nymph with a red, or some other color, "hot spot" tied in back, or front, of the thorax. The hot spot seems to be very popular with the Czech nymph crowd.

For me it has been the royal wulff. I know it is great for some, but for me, so far, I have not had much success with it. I've switched from a royal wulff to an adams and immediately got hits. They obviously don't look the same but they are both generic mayfly attractor patterns... but they have very different qualities. I didn't see a hatch at the time, but maybe the adams matches something better.

I am also very new to this sport so I will probably be giving the royal wulff plenty more chances in the future based on its reputation.

Second place would be a chernobyl ant. It has basically only been a strike indicator with a hook for me. I bet the bass and bluegill would be more forgiving, but I've yet to try it on those waters yet.

Tim, as you can expect...the Royal Wulff is one of my favorites! For me it can both bring strikes out of nowhere (usually pretty hard ones too) and tempt fish that have passed up other patterns. Give it a few more tries. BTW, I love the Adams too.

Jonathon

http://www.troutnut.com/topic/7895/Hendrickson-Ventral

Yup, kudos to the Royal Wulff.

A gold bead would sure wrok with the above nymph.