Secret flies

[ja501]

I just finished Dynamic Nyphing and have a question. The author tells about his times on the competitive fly fishing circuit. One thing really stood out about the selection of flies that many anglers use. When you look in the boxes of anglers from all over the world there are no secret flies in their arsenal. Now I know from my own personal experience that certain variations although small can make a slow fishing day be a great day. Things like changing the color of the zebra midge to a color that's not all that common or tying hot spots on scuds and sow bugs. My question is do you guys and ladies have secret patterns that you won't find in mainstream fly selections?

 

[Ard]

Hi,

Yes I do, not really a secret but just things I learned to wrap onto a hook that catch fish. Once proven they became my flies. With my old dry flies when I lived in Pennsylvania I tied the old style patterns and they worked great so I wasn't so inventive. But for streamer fishing I experimented.

Ard

 

[stenacron]

My question is do you guys and ladies have secret patterns that you won't find in mainstream fly selections?

Absolutely.

 

[kayo]

love attractors

 

[MoscaPescador]

My secret flies are just variations of mainstream patterns. The flies could use different types of dubbing, ribbing, flash, hook, fur, or feather. They could be tied buggier or sparser.

 

[littledavid123]

Yes, and that's about all I have to say about that.

Dave

 

[biggie_robs]

I'm currently reading Bob Wyatt's book, What Trout Want, which is pretty much the antithesis to the secret fly theory, generally speaking.

So, I'm now leaning towards not believing that my secret flies are anything special, but rather that my confidence and resulting superior efforts towards correct presentation with them have helped a lot.

 

[webrx]

Mosca and I agree on this one (surprised?), i generally vary standard flies to something that works for me, sometimes it is a little flash, sometimes a different color body, sometimes a different hackle or tail, but generally variations on a working theme to make them better for the fish in my area.

Be aware though, that what works in one area may not work in another.....

d

 

[nrp5087]

George came and spoke to my fly fishing club at PSU and he made it very clear that in a majority of the time its all about how you present the fly to the fish. He told a story of how when he was young fishing with Joe Humphry's he could catch a fish one day and was blaming the fly... Joe told him its not the fly its you George. Thats what he means when he says there is not secret fly its just the presentation of the fly the reading of the water. If there was a "secret fly" someone would be cashing in big.

 

[Guest1]

It's not my policy to confirm nor deny the presence of any secret flies in any boxes I may or may not own.

 

[MoscaPescador]

Be aware though, that what works in one area may not work in another.....

That sounds like the Truckee River.

 

[stenacron]

George came and spoke to my fly fishing club at PSU and he made it very clear that in a majority of the time its all about how you present the fly to the fish. He told a story of how when he was young fishing with Joe Humphry's he could catch a fish one day and was blaming the fly... Joe told him its not the fly its you George. Thats what he means when he says there is not secret fly its just the presentation of the fly the reading of the water.

Agreed, the "right fly" in the "wrong hands" will likely not lead to success. But all things being equal... some flies simply turn the trick on trout. We have all experienced that.

If there was a "secret fly" someone would be cashing in big.

Not really... couldn't we just tie it ourselves?

Jim Slattery invented the Stimulator - an incredibly popular pattern - and he doesn't even get the credit for it.

 

[Liphookedau]

I think you will find just about everyone has their own Flies which are very hard to keep secret as once someone knows they catch Fish they then tell someone else etc,etc,etc then as mentioned The Fly becomes a Mainstream Pattern.
Brian.

 

[sandfly]

after 40+ years of study and experiments there are a few I have that never get out...just my own little quirk....others are in my shop...

 

[fishiowa]

Yes I do. That is what got me into tying, couldn't find what I wanted commercially. Also, a thought on the competitive fly fishers' boxes that didn't seem to have any secret flies; if I was fishing competitively and had a secret fly I guarantee it would not be prominently displayed in my regular box for all to see.
All that said, my personal belief is presentation is the key as long as the fly is something that could reasonably represent a food source.

End of caffeine induced ramble.
Rich

 

[random user]

Isn't that why we tie? (I'm with Diver Dan - I do not remember if that box of flies is mine or not, nor do I rememberever seeing that particular fly box before, therefore I cannot comment on it's contents.)

I never questioned why I was taught to tie flies (more like forced to learn on my own). The same way I never questioned why I was taught to clean a gun or change the oil, plugs and filters in a car or how to maintain a lawn mower...

I do know in my three ring binder of notes, the are references like "Body: SuperFine, Sulfur, "C" in grey index card box. (Name of River use 'A'.)

Since I've just gotten back into this and am more that a bit rusty, I have been loooking in my boxes and comparing my ties of flies to images I can find on the web, just to see how they compare. Conclusion I came to is I do not tie standard ties.

Example: My pheasant tail nymphs have are tied 'wrong'. I uses a sprayed, brown/black turkey tail slip for a wing case and palmer a starling body feather through the thorax for legs.

I recently posted an odd fly that I think I came up with. Well, I have never encountered anything like it anywhere. I wanted to give something back to a forum I have taken quite a bit form. Secretive? In my binder that fly is labeled "Startling & Herl - Font" and it is not the variation which is most numerous in my boxes.

I think it is a safe bet that if someone ties, they have some local variations and a couple of oddities in their boxes.

 

[nick k]

Are we all talking about the Watergate Fly?

 

[ditz]

If you folks had my skill level of tying you would realize that all of my flies are 'secret's'. None of my flies look like the original pattern unless I make a mistake

 

[brookfieldangler]

The first rule of The Secret Fly Club is that there is no Secret Fly Club

 

[ja501]

Thanks for the input, I totally agree that presentation and location are very important. Just wanted to make sure that I'm not crazy for tying something different. However when I do begin to create I hear my entomology professor clearly in my mind "scientific name, genus and species." Flashbacks occur and a sip of Blantons brings me back.