I was on the river a few weeks ago, sitting on a log waiting for fish to rise and begin feeding on mayflies floating downstream. I pulled out my PMD fly box to select either an Improved Sparkle Dun, RiverKeeper Soft Hackle Cripple, or a Parachute variant I tied recently. It got me to asking myself why I carry all these other flies?
I have caught a lot of fish with an Improved Sparkle Dun or RiverKeeper Soft Hackle Cripple. I once heard John Shewey, noted fly fisher and fly tyer remark something to the effect of “I catch 75 percent of my steelhead with Shewey’s Spawning Purple. Why? Because I tie it on the end of my leader 75 percent of the time.”
I would have to say the same thing because these two flies have caught a lot of fish for us.
Yes, these are what I call confidence flies.
The fish don’t get tired of seeing the same fly. I know this because I’ve hooked and landed a fish that rose to my fly and I retrieve the fly broken off the previous day. It’s happened a couple of times.
So yes, fish can be picky, but a well placed cast with a good drift can fool fish.
Perhaps it’s a natural progression of one’s fly fishing journey to fish fewer flies. I have over 300 fly pattern sheets on RiverKeeper Flies I could tie and use on the river, but why stick to my go-to flies? Because they work!
You saw how messy my end-of-season PMD fly box looks.
There are a few size 16 Mahogany Duns imitations thrown in on top of the flies. You might recognize them from a post awhile back where I discussed wing variations – Mahogany Duns with Different Wing Variations.
I just threw them into the PMD fly box because the box was close at hand and I expected to see PMDs hatching as well.
Look closely and there might be a few March Brown imitations on the right side. The lower left flies are Quigley’s Film Critic. I know they catch fish on the Metolius, but do I tie it on? Nope. I just stick to my confidence flies.
After taking a closer look at my PMD fly box, it’s time to clean it up and organize my flies after a long season. I see some Sparkle Duns with only a few fibers of deer hair remaining for the wing. I need to replace it, but Dancingtrout used a similar fly recently and a fish still rose to the fly!
Maybe I’ve fished long enough with this method I won’t change…but it has me thinking!
What are your confidence flies?
Enjoy…go fish!
When I was a kid. Just starting into fly fishing. A family friend gave me and advised to always keep a red butted black wooly bugger in my box. This advise has been well followed with good results. I have tied and tried alot of different flies but heavily rely on different sizes of this old design. It has caught 6in mountain Brookies to 4.5lb Rainbows and hard fighting Browns. Different size Hornburgs come in a close second place.
Thanks for commenting Jerry
My confidence flies are Parachute Adams, Purple Haze and Film Critic in sizes 18 and 20. I own several brown, grizzly and gray dun Hebert Miner capes that are conspicuously short on those sizes. John, thanks for the great instruction on parachutes, hackle stackers and sparkle duns during Winter Fly Tying. Never heard of a hackle stacker until your class!
Thanks for leaving a comment, Bob.
Isn’t this so true. When we first start we want to tie everything. After watching some you tube videos on becoming a minimalist, I now carry a few patterns in different sizes and colors. Knowing I have confidence they produce. If they decide not to eat that day I know its time to go enjoy a beer. Two of my favorites are Charlie Cravens Mole Fly and Mike Mercers Missing Link.
Good to hear you have a couple go-to flies.
John,
Thanks for sharing you thoughts regarding fly selection. I always enjoy reading/seeing what you have to say.
As a novice fly fisherman I’m always interested to read what others do and think about the sport. And so, my confidence flies tend to be those that the Pros suggest for our highly pressured waters here in CO. Like you said, others might be just as productive, but I rarely give them a chance.
One of the things that I began doing was searching out older/forgotten patterns that some noted fisherman fished thinking that throwing something different “may” be more productive. It seemed to be the case this summer. While most people speak about throwing a Chubby, I was fishing terrestrials that tend to sit lower in the water and frankly were anything but a Chubby. Not sure that these flies put any more (or less) fish in the net, but at least it was different. 😉
Enjoy you holidays!
Thanks for the comment Joe.