1. Troutnut Forum
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2. Fly Tying
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3. Favorite fly to tie

There's plenty of choices ,I just love tying anything but prefer some over others I enjoy tying " frenchys, and various other nymphs , spiders are fun but pretty straightforward, I dabble with the tradional " Catskill flys, there's just such scrutiny an " over anylais of them , from exact material to how many Hackle turns , I jump in and just create lol
What's you're favorite fly to tie

David,

Just type 'favorite fly' into the search bar and get a LOT of posts and topics from past years.

In the here and now my favorite tying style/pattern has to be a Harrops' Hair wing Dun, a fly that I can tweak and use for pretty much any and all hatches I encounter. Second would be the Thorax pattern, again very tweakable to meet a variety of applications. I can tie them sparse with the hackle trimmed off the bottom for slow, smooth water or full and 'bushy' a'la Wulff style for flotation and visibility in riffly, fast water. Maybe not entirely true to the original pattern but usable nonetheless.

Roguerat

'Less is more...'

Ludwig Mies Vande Rohe

Comparaduns and Sparkleduns for me (which I was taught about as a newbie from this site!). Like mentioned above, I like them for the versatility. I fish them for hatches and spinner falls. Once you get good at the hair wing part they are really easy. Tie them on a curved shank/emerger hook with an antron shuck, and you basically have Wyatt's Dear Hair Emerger. I guess the only drawback about them is that I can't tie them below a size 16. I don't know if there is any deer hair out there that will flair properly below that size anyway.

I also like tying and fishing soft hackles/spider variations a lot as well.

Cheers

Tim.



It is true they are hard to tie in sizes smaller than #16. However you can use other winging material that will let you tie them down to #22. You can use straight Z-lon material in different colors. Cut an appropriately sized bunch of fibers and tie in as you normally would hair. Another material I use often for #16 and smaller, and it looks very good, are 2-3 CDC feather tips. I like to buy bulk packages of Trouthunter CDC. I feel they provide the most amount of usable feathers. Select 2-3 feathers all about the same shape and strip off the bottom fluff. Position the feathers o9n top of the hook shank facing over the eye. Lash down securely and then lift the clump up and build a thread dam in front of the CDC. Then with your fingers from both hands tease the feathers out to a fan shape.

I'll put up a picture so you can see what the goal looks like.

Klinkhamer style, but with cut wings like a thorax. My go to for tough fish.

once i learned to cope with the copper wire, the Sawyer pheasant tail nymph became my favorite. hook, pheasant tail fibers, copper wire. simple (not easy) and i can tie them big or small, and my gracious! do they catch fish!



don't speak too soon, bro...;-)

Casey,

A sincere THANKS! for setting the bar, so to speak..fly-fishing is a great pastime and art and I've passed this on to 3 of my 4 daughters (the 4th is a Great Lakes shipwreck snorkeler/diver so I'm not pushing anything on her!) and the girls are on the water with me as often as their schedules and lives allow.

I'll have to come up with some Stengelese nuggets of wisdom to pass your way,

Tight lines,

Roguerat

'Less is more...'

Ludwig Mies Vande Rohe

No not really I love it when my wife joins me for a float in the drift boat or bass boat. What's with you hating them joining you? Can't take a little competition? Are you afraid she will out fish you?

BTW what is with all the gutter language? No one on this forum ever speaks like that. Please keep the four letter words to yourself and you friends in Prague.

Matt,

Ditto on fishing with a spouse...my wife and I plan a lot of time away around fishing trips and she's my biggest cheerleader no matter what's on the line.
2nd youngest daughter has out-fished me more than once and I'm proud of her although I've grabbed some credit- and saved myself from terminal razzing- since I tie all the flies in the kids' arsenals.
Its all good, I passed it on the the next generation and now one after that!

Roguerat

'Less is more...'

Ludwig Mies Vande Rohe

I taught my ex-wife how to fly fish and bought her own rod for her. I WANTED her to outfish me so there would be no argument about going in the future! "Wanna go fishing, sweetie?" "SURE!!"

"Can't take a little competition? Are you afraid she will out fish you?"

Yep, think you hit the nail on the head there, Matt. Who was this guy?? Oh well, when you're on the internet any knucklehead can chime in with stupidity...I believe the term is TROLL. And they sure as heck aren't welcome here.

On a happier note, here's wishing all of my fellow Troutnuts a very Happy Thanksgiving. I have a good weekend coming up: a concert in Ann Arbor tomorrow night (King Crimson!), the holiday weekend at my Mom's house, and there's even a gun show on Saturday. A wonderful weekend to all!

Jonathon