Must have flies on New Hampshire streams

[munoz6]

First off, Thank you to the creaters of this website. I have lived here just over a year now and haven't done much fly fishing as of yet. Part of the problem has been, I don't have the time to spend doing research on places to fish. I am sure this site will help in that regard.


Now then...with that said,

What flies are must haves on New Hampshire streams?? And what are some of your favorite go to flies when nothing else seems to be working.

My go to is a nice big fat Olive Wooley Bugger. When nothing else is working this fly will hook at least one anywhere in the country.

[Gerry]

I guess it depends on the season of the year and the water I am on:

For a pond, I would go with a beadhead woollybugger - olive, black, black/olive
For a small stream, a small Royal Wulff
For a larger river, a black ghost

If you held me to one fly, it would have to be the black/olive woolybugger,
tight lines,
Gerry

[Flyfish99]

Subsurface:
Olive Wooly Bugger, Prince Nymph, Copper John, Grey Ghost, Magog Smelt, Gold Rib Hare's Ear (nymph & wet fly), LaFontaine Sparkle Pupa (tan and olive), Hendrickson, Sulphur, and BWO nymphs (each in season)
Hornberg (standard, red, & yellow), Muddler

Dry:
Wulff patterns, Usuals, Elk Hair Caddis, Stimulator, Yellow & Lime Sallies, Black Caddis, Sulphur Dun, Hendrickson, Red Quill, Light Cahill, March Brown, Griffith's Gnat

[fessiewig]

munoz6,

Go to the top of the page and click on "Tying".

[sbeausol]

can't lose with some pheasant tails in you fly box in addition to the suggestions above

[catchnrelease]

the three flies I take just about everywhere are the picket pin, kennebago muddler, and the mosquito. The muddler and the pin can be fished so many diiferent ways... for ex. the muddler well dosed w/ frogs fanny makes a great drake cripple...

[PW]

What is the difference between a generic muddler and a kennebago muddler? I've never heard of the one before.

[Boneylegs]

Paul:

Funny this comes up because i just finished tying up a dozen of the Kennebago muddlers. The recipe is as follows:

Hook: Mustad 9672 (or what ever you're currently using for a muddler)

Tail: Wood duck flank fibers

Body: Gold tinsel

Wing: Grey or red squirrel tail over which you tie in a wood duck flank feather flatwing style (as in the Woods Special)

Head: Spun deer hair head and collar trimmed to shape

I find the 'bago muddler more effective in a lot more situations than the regular muddler. I also prefer to use the red squirrel over the grey. In lakes and ponds it's a more realistic dragonfly nymph imitation. The Thomas Ames book has pictures and recipes.

Have fun! & feel free if you have any questions to fire away....

[Mountain Angler]

I can't belive that nobody has mentioned the Hornburg. I always thought it was the State fly.
For dries: a Red Quill and a spinner pattern to match and a whole bunch of Elk Hair Caddis in different sizes and colors. For: nymphs Prince, Hares Ear and Copper John. For streamers: Black Ghost, Gray Ghost, Black Nose Dace and Winnepsaukee Smelt.
Wet flies an assortment of soft hackles.
Whats a Wooly Bugger?

[Flyfish99]

A Wooly Bugger is basically a Wooly Worm with a marabou tail and a bit of flashabou or similar material mixed in. Also, some tinsel may be wrapped on the body, or tinsel chenille can be used for the body. Basic colors are olive, black, brown, grey, and white. I use the olive pattern extensively in northern NH when there is no surface action, and I have had great success with it, especially when fished dead drift.

Actually, I did mention the Hornberg and it's variants (red and yellow) about four or five posts up. I'd never think of coming to NH without some Hornbergs. If it isn't your state fly, it should be. :lol:

[maddog48]

When I lived in NH, my favorite Woolie Worm was what they called the "True Woolie Worm." It was a black, red, black chenille body with a red yarn tail and a grizzly hackle heavily weighted. The body resembled the chenille type tie of the body of the Royal Wulff. I caught quite a few brookies on this pattern. Dries I used also included March Browns and Grey Fox Variants... all in "season" of course... along with the Hendricksens and Quill Gordons and Red Quills.


Mike

[fessiewig]

What do you think of the "downwing" Hornberg?

[Flyfish99]

I'm not familiar with that pattern. :?: Could you describe it?

[fessiewig]

Instead of tying the Mallard feathers on each side, you tie one rolled and flat on top.

[Flyfish99]

Never tried the Hornberg tied in that fashion. My favorite flat wing is a local pattern called the Cowee Special. Was created back in the 1930's by Stan Cowee, a tyer from West Spfld, MA.

Red Goose tail, gold tinsel body, yellow bucktail, calftail, or synthetic underwing, Pintail body feather overwing, (tied flat over the top and rolled a bit down the sides), red goose throat curving downward.

[petegas]

One fly that looks vaugely like a Hornberg, that i use often is the Wood Duck Heron. You can dead drift it, strip it under the surface, and at the place i used to work at out in MT, we woulg go out on this lake at night and strip it as fast as we could across the surface of the water, the concentric circles it made in the water would drive those big browns crazy!
You can get a glimse of it here:
http://www.huntersangling.com/cgi-bin/shopper.cgi?key=FLY_FWE-WH&preadd=action[/url]

[BROOK TROUT BULLY]

I secound your opinion on the wood duck. The wood duck heron is the most productive streamer for NH that I have in my box. It seems to work everywhere I go.

[PW]

Fess,

What size do you like for the downwing hornberg?

[fessiewig]

#8

[troutscout]

For anyone who's tried to tie a hornberg, the downwing version is a welcome variation. I recently tied up several hornbergs with the mallard flanks and its a bear to keep them aligned with one another unless you use a little head cement to glue their tips together. I think it was Old Guide that recommended tying it with a single mallard feather tent style over the top, thus downwing. Its much easier to tie, and if you're fishing it wet, looks the same as a soggy traditional hornberg. Also very productive in yellow and green.

[fessiewig]

Actually, I first saw that style in Dick Stewarts' pattern & tying book "Universal Fly Tying Guide". Circa 1979. In fact he has the standard in downwing as well as a "dark" version. Both are excellent.

[Mountain Angler]

The Down Wing Hornburg was created by Dick Stewert. He reasoned that the Hornburg repersented a caddis and with the wing tied over the fly rather then on the sides it would be more effective. In Dick and Farrow Allen's book Trout Flies the Hornburg is shown as a dry fly and tied "down wing" it is shown again in the streamer section of the book in the traditional style with the wings tied on the side. It is said that you can't fish a Hornburg wrong. It is a dry, a wet and a streamer.
I was kidding about the Wooly Worm, but it does make a point. Not that long ago the Hornburg was probably the most popular fly in New Hampshire and Maine. I have known guys that swore by them and never used any other fly. The Horngurg is still very popular, but the Wooly Bugger is by far more popular today.
To be honest I have never had that much luck with either fly. But, you have to have faith in a fly before they will work for you.

[munoz6]

There needs to be a section on here with recipes and pics of all of these flies. I'm assuming that is to come??

[sbeausol]

I am happy to get the pics and the recipes up. The most difficult thing is getting the pics. For those who want to contribute send me a digital picture and I will link them up through the fly tying section. The more pics I get, the more things will get updated.

Drop me a line at info@flyfishinginnh.com if you have images, and we can arrange for an effecient way to transfer them.

Sean

[troutscout]

I actually have an old copy of the original Dick Stewart guide. My father-in-law has been fishing here in NH for about 50 years and swears that that is how a Hornberg is supposed to look...he's almost always right.