[Sandy Nelson]

I've been watching with great interest all this talk of Dirty Dusters, DHE's and JT's etc.
I agree with all of it And then some.

So i got to thinking about the "Then Some" and i find myself in possesion of a beautiful little fly box that will hold 40 flies. That looks like 2 patterns with 5 of each size 12-18 or 14-20 with me so far. So i thought this will be easy.........
I can do it for Salmon...just 2 patterns for most of the season... But never for Trout

Now it seems i can buy and sell reels and rods with abandon and no sentimental attachment, with a couple of exceptions . So why is it my collection of flies just grows. I know we are almost all the same and it is the curse of the fly tyer that there is always a tweek here and Wee snippet of this there and so it goes on...and on...and on..... and long may it continue.
But where does it end?....Does it end?.....do i want it to end?......  

So as we are pretty much all of the order F.A.A. (Fly Addicts Anonymous for those without an imagination ) I thought i'd ask for some advice.
In many of the other recent posts, there are lots of ideas, but i have just the one fly box that has 40 slots, now i know i can make this work, i desperately believe that i want too But what flies do i put in it so i can grab and go on both Don and Ythan (given the fly life is much the same on both rivers.) I'm thinking Dryflies that may be adaptable . I have my own ideas, but would love to hear what each of you might choose to pop in the box.

By the way i had a good look around and found 11 fly-tying books, 7 entomology books and 4 fly boxes (mostly full) on my fly-tying desk, and another 14 Fly-tying books, 8 entomology books and 15 fly-boxes (all full) elsewhere around the house.
No bloody wonder it is so flaming hard to nail 40 flies


Sandy

[Alex Burnett]

I'm not even going to try listing amounts or favourites...  

I've just grabbed my white coat!!!

Hi my name is Alex and I'm an Fly Addict.

Alex

[Ben Dixon]

Hi Sandy,

I've got 6 tubes that I use for salmon and 4 flies, that's it.  For trout in each situation there are a few more but not many really, I spend more time thiking about how I'm using the fly I have on rather than changing constantly hoping to get some interest.  I have been through the addiction though, I think I'm just about cured these days!

Cheers

Ben

[Sandy Nelson]

 I have been through the addiction though, I think I'm just about cured these days!

In which case, my flexible friend, you may have some suggestions and not just more philosophy, which is kinda wasted on someone with a grass fetish.... I'm mostly philosophied out


Sandy

[Alex Burnett]

Sandy

Just checked my River backpack!!!!






Alex

[Ben Dixon]

Thing is Sandy, I tend to catch on the same fairly simple patterns and I have always gone back to them no matter what else is in the box with exactly the right number of legs & tails and, I don't get quite so pissed if I loose a sub 5 minute tie to the vegetation 
I don't really tie anything close copy these days, the generic easy tie stuff always catches a lot more fish for me.

River

Nymphs
PTN 12 -18
GRHEs with & without gold bead in nat & olive 12 - 18, some small ones also in black
Small light buzzers

Also carry some heavy bugs & shrimp / Czech style patterns

Wets
WHB's
P&O
Hares ear
Hare & Plover
Snipe & Purple
Black Spiders
Pale olive Spider
Hot orange Spider

Dries
DHE's
Paraduns - olive, natural hare, black & grey
Hawthorns
Aero wing spinners in a few different colours
elk hair caddis - tan & yellow
Klinks in tan, black natural hare & olive
F Flies natural & black
CDC olives
CDC shuttles in black & natural hare
Daddies

Streamers
Sculpins in olive
Woolly Buggers in black & olive
Butt monkies in orange & tan
Zoo Cougars in Olive & yellow

That may look like quite a lot but the above cover a lot of loch / stillwater situations for me too.  Got a box of traditionals & deer hair patterns for wild lochs, a box of stillwater nymphs & dries and also a box of blob type stuff.  That about covers my trout stuff, nothing fancy in there really just simple patterns that have proven their worth.  I may have other stuff in my boxes but the patterns listed above in different sizes are pretty much all I fish for a season on the river.

Cheers

Ben

[Noel Kelly]

Sandy

Just checked my River backpack!!!!






Alex

Alex that's a lot of flies! What river do you fish?

[Loxiafan]

Interesting topic this. My addiction, judging by my ever bulging fly tying box, is in fly tying paraphenalia rather than the flies. Seriously, there must be a real problem here   This is made worse by the fact that last season I fished only dry fly, and at that only two patterns.   Well, strictly speaking one of these was an emerger !

I am with Ben on this - make what you think will work, well, work. Presentation is the thing BW pushes in his new book, and coupled with his 'generalist' patterns he is confident of catching.........if you present your fly well ! Bob says he would rather spend less time at the bench and more on the river, so I guess he would have you ask yourself " am I a fly tyer or an angler" ? I guess being a fly fisherman is a bit of both ?

I just watched a clip of a Japenese Tenkara dude, sensai type guru, and he uses only one fly. Yes, only one fly ! He is not even specific about the materials, just his missuses sewing thread, and ties one of his Kebari spiders in under 40 seconds. Be honest, armed with your Edmonds and Lee's fly box of top 40 North Country flies, do you really think you will outfish this Master on his home patch ?   That said fly tying is a hobby within a hobby and so what if your fly box is full of patterns.

My other turning point as a journeymen fly fisherman was the realisation that, to me, a successful angler is one who catches fish the way he wants to, that is, using the methods and flies he chooses ! This was partly through conversations with John Walker, reading his book, but also the Bob Wyatt philosophy. Does it work ? Sometimes it does, some days it doesn't but the chance is usually always there. Last season I caught almost as many as 2011, using only two dry flies, but the quality was better overall.

This season I have decided to also fish 'wet' and use nymphs. So my opening day river fly box will defintely contain:

JT Olive
DHE
DHS (as Bob says it works !)
PTN
MB Nymph
Waterhen Bloa
Hare Lug and Plover

If I can't catch with those it is my presentation that needs working on, not my range of flies. As the season progresses DHS will swap with CdC and Elk and I will add something small and black.

Lindsay

[Ben Dixon]

a successful angler is one who catches fish the way he wants to, that is, using the methods and flies he chooses !

Yup, there's usually a way of getting fish out but if it bores the bollocks off me I tend not to bother. 

I generally only tie because often I can't buy what I want at a standard I'm happy with.  I hate tying salmon flies, bores me rigid but I do it as, if I'm not happy with the tying of the fly I'm using I don't fish well.

Presentation is the thing BW pushes in his new book, and coupled with his 'generalist' patterns he is confident of catching.........if you present your fly well !

Careful you don't end up a philosophical grass fetishist Lindsay 

Ben

[Alex Burnett]

@ Ben...The Ythan & sometimes but not often the Don.

Just as well I didn't add in the box I am tying up at the moment with JT Olives,
PTN's, Wets & Spiders!!!

Alex

[Sandy Nelson]

Thing is Sandy, I tend to catch on the same fairly simple patterns

Me too, Hence the question Inspired from the other recent topics which seemed to allude to the same thing.

I'm a bit naughty really as I know exactly what flies are going to fill the 40 spaces in the new wee box, and it is for grabbing to go to the river without too much thought or planning.

Your own list of flies almost paraphrases my own couple of boxes that live in the waistcoat, and there only is a couple they give me the selection for matching a hatch and cover all my general patterns as well.
The only real difference are the streamers, which is something i really don't fish very often. Often think i should... but usually a rise will see me go for the dry or emerger style spiders and so the game begins.

I've managed to rationalise my gear over the last 10 years as well, so My goto rod for the river is an 8ft 5wt cane rod, GT90 5wt, with a single fly tapered leader for dry fly, and a spool with an SLX 5wt and a two fly leader for spiders/emergers and the odd nymph.
Presentation has been my by-word since 1991 and i've tried almost every style of rod and line from 0 weights to 5wts with loads of 3 and 4's in between. I've done Fiberglass, Carbon, Boron and Cane, from 7ft to 10ft to see what makes a difference. The only real difference is Me and the time spent learning to cast with various people on this forum has been the real game changer .....But i digress......

So the 40 slots in the wee box will be filled with 5 of each.

Parachute Adams,14,16,18
H.E. F-Fly 17,19
CDC Orange spider 17,19
Mini Black Klinkhammer 20

And i know i can catch fish on any river with at least one of them, a bit of observation and a nice presentation.
I can stroke my grass for comfort, Add music with the gentle watch like tick from my reel, be unclutered of the mind and generally just enjoy being there, shaping line to fool a spotty Herbert.

Now Why Can't i get all romantic about salmon fishing

 

Sandy

p.s. This all started because like the PTN and P&O, i never seem to have confidence in the DHE, yet it seems like i should

[Rob Brownfield]

I've got 6 tubes that I use for salmon and 4 flies, that's it. 

Shop at Somers, the flies are cheaper so you would be able to afford a few more  

[Allan Liddle]

It's not an easy exercise cutting down on the amount of different flies in your flybox, but essentially you have to ask three questions:

1. When was the last time i really needed that fly?
2. How many flies do i have that offer the same thing?
3. What are my go to flies, i.e. what ones work the most for me and why? (ok cheated a wee bit and added another two questions  )

You'll probably find that your approach to your fishing dictates a lot of what you have / need and you can cut out a lot of the superficial stuff.  That said it's easier for me because i tend to target almost exculsively wild troots, but admit when other species are added to the mix or i opt for salt rather than fresh water then i've got boxes of other stuff (most of the what i demmed superficial) back home that instantly go into the fishing bag for the duration.

We're all a little worried at being caught out, not having the right fly for whatever conditions we come across, however knowing how to adapt with what we do have, essentially expanding on a style we know well in order to make it work is a skill we all have, but most likely undervalue it.

Besides it's not just the flies you weigh yourself down with, add in the rods, lines, leader and other associated kit (boat fishing, seats, outboards, fishfinders, fly rods, trolling rods, dapping rods, waders in case the bank becomes favourable, spare fly rods, net, waterproofs, more fly rods, lunch, flasks, flyboxes, more reels, tacklebox, suncream, sunglasses, more reels with flylines you once heard of someone catching a good basket on, more flyboxes, two labrador dogs, dogs water, dogs food, leads, electric outboards  )  and it's time to go home once you get it all down to the boat / set up 

To be fair i have started leaving a lot of kit behind, or in the car just in case, and love the freedom of a much more relaxed approach.  Yes i've been caught out, but not as much as i'd have imagined, especially when you give it a bit of thought to what type of fishing you're going to be doing before you start.  Sorry Sandy a wee bit off thread there, maybe a good wee bit fun might be another thread with everyone's Desert Island Fly Choice on it, you know 'You're allowed a box of say 30 patterns, what would they be and why?' type of thing??

Allan L

[Iain Goolager]

IF I was tasked with being as minimalist as possible, then I could strip everything right back to 2 flies and still be confident of being confident.
I would preffer not to be so constrained for a whole season but I could do it   in a sort of 'you're stuck on a desert island' sort of choice.

Back in reality I have whittled things down to 10 flies, that includes some newish patterns to my box that have taken fish but really need to be given a full season to be judged on whether they are future 'must haves'.


I found two large C&F 2 tiered fly boxes from previous seasons at the weekend with all sorts of Klinks, paraduns, CDC emporiums, emergers, disgorgers, upenders, side loaders, upside down duns, funnel 'bows, smuts, smits, snorks...........a plethora of stuff that is a safety net 'just in case'. Truth is they only ever re-assure & never get wet.

Tonight I will post pictures of the 10.

Iain

[Iain Goolager]

Alan, you tw*t   ,
I started the last post (no, not that 'last post' as my bugle is broken) at work then got called away so by the time you posted your post some of the content of your post were already half written in the post that I was almost ready to post but I hadn't time to post as I was called away from my post at work.  ???

 
Iain

[Rob Brownfield]

When I started fly fishing at the heady age of 10, I only had two fly patterns, Sweenty Todds amd Missionaries.

The chap in the tackle shop said, "Black for dull days, white for bright"...and for years thats about the only two flies I used. (until I found Bitch Creek Nymphs ).

I know I am not in the same league as you lot, but I tend to carry a dark and a light F-Fly, a dark and a light spider of some kind, the same with nymphs and the same with streamers.

No particular pattern, just shades and sizes.

Howver, my fly boxes at home are full of all sorts of fly...but they are not my fishing boxes!

[Alex Burnett]

Well Beaded Nymphs side complete & Spiders nearly there.



Hares Ears & JT sides still to do.

Alex

[Iain Goolager]

That's minimalist for you Alex, didn't I once see you at Haddo with a holdall full of fly boxes?


Genuine story!

Iain

[Alex Burnett]

Iain

That's my Stillwater flies!!!

We are only talking River here!!! 6 Compact boxes & 1 Fox Box

Alex

[Loxiafan]

Careful you don't end up a philosophical grass fetishist Lindsay  

Way too late for that Ben !  

Actually, I could go further. I normally carry the above flies in a range of sizes, usually 3, but could weedle it down to one size only:

JT size 19
DHE size 14
DHS don't know yet but put me down for size 12/ from late May CdC Elk size 15
PTN size 16
MBN size 12
Waterhen Bloa size 14
Hare Lug and Plover size 14
Black Sparkle Midge size 20

6 of each 48 in box at any one time !

Lindsay

[Loxiafan]

Tonight I will post pictures of the 10.

.....and an "adapter dry" ? ! 

L

[Alex Burnett]

 

[Iain Goolager]

Here they are,

forgot about the late night sedge, so that's 11 for the whole season. Ok so you can argue size, body dubbing colour/material, etc. but these will do me fine.

       

Iain

[Iain Goolager]

Alex, you are a silly boy!
 
Iain

[Alex Burnett]