Favorite searching pattern

[dshort]

What's the first fly you turn to when nothing is happening in the way of hatches and you just want to fish the water? My go-to's are usually nymphs and it usually starts with a bead head hare's ear or a bead head prince. What does everyone like?

[BigCliff]

If i'm fishing fast pocket water I will usually start with a copper john. If its slower water I'll usually fish one of my trusty customized soft hackle diving caddis.

[Fish Bones]

I'll usually go with a size 16 or 18 BH Flashback Pheasant Tail for a nymph. And a Royal Wulff or Adams for a dry. Wooly Buggers will pretty much always work.

[tie one on]

My first thought would be : What species of fish
are you after ? Trout, smallies, steelhead . . .

If it is trout my favorite is an Elk Hair Caddis. I have
a pattern that the body of the fly is wrapped with a
translucent crystal flash. This gives the fly just a little
sparkle that usually triggers trout.


Tie One on

[Piscator]

I mostly fish for trout. I think I have the most success with a soft hackle for subsurface and a Elk Hair Caddis pattern for surface. I close second for subsurface would be a WD-40.

Hope this helps.
Thanks,
Terry

[Frank Whiton]

Has a lot to do with where you are fishing and what time of year it is. One of my favorite setups is a Stimulator, with a small Prince Nymph, Copper John, Scud or Emerger as a dropper. In tail waters I like a Chammy fly with a Midge dropper or a Prince Nymph with a Midge dropper. In Alaska it would be a Woolly Bugger or Egg Sucking Leach unless Salmon are running and then an Egg pattern would be preferred for Rainbows. In the lower 48, a Prince Nymph has to be my favorite.

[Yoffione]

Like the others i will assume we are talking about trout here.

While nymphing, I go to a large stonefy nymph, most commonly a brown rubber legs. It always has a dropper, either a bead head pheasant tail or bh copper john.

For streamers it is my woolly bugger. Quite a bit of flash and rubber legs for movement, copper wire, black body, olive tail and heavily weighted, size 6.

If not much is going on on the surface I throw a chernoble ant, black and tan or green and tan, with a pheasant tail dropper.

[dshort]

Yes, I was speaking of trout. Sorry for the confusion. No other fans of the bead head gold ribbed hare's ear? That fly always seems to take fish for me no matter what time of year or type of water. Maybe it has something to do with the confidence I have in it. I expect it to work, so I probably fish it better.

[Fish Bones]

You are exactly right... I have always believed that confidence make you a better fisherman.

[Gordon Bryson]

While I'm no expert on trout, or any other fish for that matter, I tie a gold bead head P bugger, size 14 usually. This is a very simple fly, and will stand up to a lot of fish abuse. A gold bead, a tail of crystal flash material, rainbow colored, and a body of peacock herl. That's it, no hackle, etc. I usually strip this with no strike indicator. Depending on the depth of water, either a flurocarbon furled leader and tippet, or just a plain nylon mono furled leader and tippet.