mayflies

[Banks10]

Anyone have any good mayfly patterns?

[Steve H.]

Adams.

Actually, the question's a bit vague (although the Adams pattern covers a lot of different mayflies).

Personally, the "true" mayfly pattern I find myself using most often is the Blue Winged Olive because I find that hatching more than others when/where I fish. I also like Hendrickson and Cahill (light and dark) patterns.

Most of the time, actually, I used generic mayfly patterns such as the Adams or Royal Coachman.

For recipes, check out this site....has quite a few patterns with photos:

http://www.flytyingworld.com/flyindex.shtml

[mer]

Adams, particularly as a parachute, sizes 12-16 are a good pattern to use around here. Those sizes and the coloring is a reasonable "match" for most of the bugs you'll find year round. For summer evenings usually a yellow is what you want (Cahill).

Search for Catskill Fly; you'll wind up with a bunch of the standard patterns. Catskill dry flies are very interesting; they are actually easy to tie, but very difficult to tie well. :)

Adams
Hendrickson
Red Quill
Quill Gordon
Cahill (Light or Dark)

[overmywaders]

A Parachute Sulphur in sizes 14-16 is often very effective.

[FLY FIS]

MER: 40 years ago you described my dry fly box, with the addition of a mosquito, black knat, and royal coachman. And you know, they all caught fish, and they were all that you needed

[Banks10]

MER: 40 years ago you described my dry fly box, with the addition of a mosquito, black knat, and royal coachman. And you know, they all caught fish, and they were all that you needed

Are they still all you need now? :lol:
I do seem to enjoy tying the more traditional flies. I'm not sure if they're easier or if it's because it's fun to think about how many other people have tied them years before I clumsily do.

[mer]

Banks, they sure will still catch fish; even stockers. Besides that, a well tied Catskill style dry fly is one of the prettiest looking flies around (in my opinion).

Royal Coachman. One of the world's greatest attractors. Works on fish too, not just fishermen. Tippet tail, quill wings. A Royal Wulff is a great variation.

Red Quill, Quill Gordon are my favorites. Look for some of the books by AK Best; his method of tying quill bodied dry flies results in some very nice looking flies.

Fly fishing and fly tying have a great history; if you brought someone forward about 300 years, they would still understand what they were doing. Fishing the old patterns just makes one connected with that sense of history and is one reason that I fly fish. Sorry if it sounds a bit sappy, but heck, we all need something don't we?

[overmywaders]

mer,

If you haven't used this one recently, you're missing a treat!

http://traditionalflies.com/images/catskilldries/RoyalCoachmanFanwing.jpg

Of course, you need a heavier tippet to prevent twisting, but when this settles down gently, the fish slam it.

[mer]

Reed, it's been a while, but that is the definition of an attractor. They don't look like anything, but if you put them in the water and look from underneath, they look like food. Nicely done tie, yours? Of course, in order to fish it correctly, one has to use a bamboo rod

:wink:

[FLY FIS]

Well you know I do think that they are all you really need, but, then again we all carry numerous more patterns and variations of each. The Fan Wing Royal Coachman shown above is a prime example of that variation. What a great sport, art, and adventure we all participate in!!!

[Oncorhynchus]

I grew up in NY and had the priviledge of cutting my teeth on the Deleware system, the Beaverkill, Willowemoc, Mongaup and others. When I first started I did not tie, and I hit every fly shop in the area to buy flies and pick the owners brains. There is a famous shop in Livingston Manor, NY where the owner who's name escapes me right now, does nothing but tie flies all day, every day.

The first thing I learned was that traditional catskill dry flies look more appealing to the buyer (or tier) than they do to the fish. Traditional hackle makes the fly float very high on the water, which is un-natural. Then came the evolution of thorax and parachute patterns. The reason: to make the fly drift in a more natural way, not lopsided and more into the surface film. I know a lot of old school guys that still tie with traditional hackle, but they trim the hackle off the bottom of the fly. They do this cause they want the fly to ride lower, like a natural mayfly. IMHO, smart trout don't take traditional catskill dry flies, but they will take an altered one.

Now we have emerger patterns. They are the best of both worlds. Tiers and anglers have figured out that CDC, poly, snowshoe, and other synthetics give enough floatation, are easy to work with, cheap to buy, and are very durable. The result, a fly that is deadly effective, easy to tie, and you can use it all day long.

The key to mayfly patterns isn't necessarily color, wing pattern, or tailing pattern. The keys are size, and silhouette. When a trout is looking up at a dry fly or other surface pattern, it cannot detect color easily, all the fish sees is a silhouette against the sky in the background. If your offering is the same size, and has the silhouette of the hatch, you'll probably hook up.

Now, I've had numerous outings where fish have keyed in on a particular stage of mayfly during a hatch. One day I fished to a pool of rising fish on the Deleware, the water was absolutely boiling. There was a decent sulphur (dorothea) hatch, and they wouldn't even look at what I was tossing. Through trial and error, I discovered that the fish had keyed in on cripples, adult duns that were struggling to emerge from the nymphal shuck, and were literally stuck in the surface film. This behavior is common of the "sulphur" species, and the trout seemed to know that during this stage, the insects were completely helpless, and easy pickings. I now carry a good variety of sparkle duns in my boxes, to imitate an emerging insect stuck in it's nymphal case.

All I fish these days are comparadun, comparaemerger and other hackle-less patterns. First, they are effective. Two, they are durable. Three, they are much easier to tie. And four, I don't have to spend $60-$80 dollars on a quality neck.

If you are interested in learning more about these types of flies, get a book titled "Hatches" by Al Caucci and Bob Nastasi. I've seen it at local Barnes and Noble stores. Al is a well known angler, tier and entomologist who owns a resort on the west branch of the Deleware. I do not agree with some of his actions, opinions or elitist attitude, in fact, he's a horses arse. But, he and Bob spent years researching mayflies and the book details the results of their studies. It's a bit on the scientific side, but also has lots of information that the average angler can understand. It will make you a better fly-fisherman. The book also has color plates and tying recipies and instructions.

Al also has a website www.mayfly.com

I also highly recommend his custom blended dubbing.

[overmywaders]

Onco,

A discussion of the triggers for trout is delightful. It is never resolved because everyone looks to their own experiences; but it is profitable nonetheless.

I would list the triggers for a take by rising trout in the following order from most critical to least:

1/ Presentation - if the fish expects a drag-free drift and doesn't get it, you lose; likewise if he expects action.

2/ Protein Possibility - if the fish is rising only sporadically and there is no hatch, you need something that hints at high protein. If the hatch is thick and the flies are small, a small imitation will be lost in the herd - throw a Hairwing Royal Coachman or a Dave's Hopper out there, IMO. If the hatch is just medium, imitate.

3/ Outline - there is not one view of a dry fly from below - although typically books wil show only one - it varies according to the depth of the fish, the stillness of the surface, reflected light, and the position in the trout's "window". So we have to think of the total outline given by the fly. The sharper and clearer the lines of the body and wings, the less room for the trout to assume ambiguity. That is why fur-bodied dries are so effective - obviously mayflies don't wear mink, but by breaking the harsh outline of a "perfect imitation" you get more "impressions" from different views. Likewise, using a "buggy" splayed hackle rather than the crisp Darby Catskill tie gives a better overall ambiguity. JMHO, of course.

4/ Size - when small black ants are drifting downstream, matching size makes sense. But pinpoint accuracy in size ranks below the items above, IMO.

5/ Color/Flash/Iridescence/UV - fish can see in the UV, we need to choose our materials to accommodate. This is why natural materials are often best, a low UV signature. Peacock herl is often a winner - it has flash and iridescence (as do the shell-like bodies of some insects).

What do others have for an order?

[lowwall]

I love posts like this , reminds me on how much there is to fly fishing and how little I know about it!
Keep it up, great stuff

[Oncorhynchus]

Overmywaders,

I absolutely agree with your first trigger of presentation. I was speaking in a perfect world with no regard in how the fly is getting to the fish. of course, if it's not presented properly, it doesn't matter a damn bit.

I like your ideas and I think they make perfect sense!

[TGIF]

Did anyone happen to see the last article in Fly Fisherman Magazine this month. It was all about Carl Richards, and his No Hackle dry flies. Supposedly very effective, but not terribly easy to fish.

Wouldn't parachutes have a similar effect? Meaning riding low in the water, to show a body profile, and not put as much emphasis on wings and hackle?

Lastly, I have heard that fish don't see the wing, therefore you can use crazy colors, like the hi-viz parachutes. Do you believe this to be true? A red parachute post is great for visibility, but is it equally effective?

TGIF

[wet_fly_action]

Just to throw a wrench in the works, I've had a few experiences with "educated" fish where they would only take high floating dries. My theory would be that they couldn't examine the fly as closely as one floating below the surface film.
Getting back to patterns, this past season I chucked most of my mayfly dries and tied up the Nearenuf pattern in sizes 12-18. The logic being that here in new england our hatches are rather sparse compared to out west and the fish more oppurtunistic. It worked in nearly every situation except when there were light cahills on the water. Luckily I kept a few of those in the box.
This past season was an odd one for insects, at least the ones I observed. I saw more mayflies than I'd ever seen before and very few caddis. In the past I've caught fish almost exclusively on caddis- a high floating palmer hackled elk hair caddis for fast water and skittering and a quill winged pattern for slow water got the job done.

[mer]

Nearenuf? Is that the old Tappley pattern?

TGIF:
Do some searching on Vince Marinaro. There seems to be a lot of research that indicates the fish to see the wing (lookng up through the water the physics makes it kind of weird), but perhaps don't care so much about the color. So using different colors for wings may actually make it more effective because the fisherman can follow it.

[wet_fly_action]

Yup the Tapply pattern. Pretty similar to the quill gordon. I remeber reading Tap's articles back when I was a kid. When I came across the pattern on Midcurrent last winter I thought it would be a fun to tie a few up.