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Interesting piece. I think there is an insight to this. I think usually drift and location in the water column matter more than pattern, so I am sympathetic.
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I don't read this forum much but as a moderator I try to keep up on most of them. I'm not much of a fly fisherman but my grandfather was a superb practitioner of the art. But I have always had a love affair with flies. When I was in high school I would ditch class and go to the library (I admit it, I was quite a hellion back then; I even got suspended for going elk hunting) and read all the books about hunting, fishing, and etc. I spent hours perusing the color plates in the fly-tying books of the many different patterns. I was fascinated by the names as much as anything. Names like Silver Doctor, Gray Ghost, and Mickey Finn. As I grew older I realized I should really concentrate on western trout flies. I made up top-ten lists and sometimes still do as styles change and patterns emerge (accidental pun). I will admit that I only fish flies behind bubbles now and that I should be beat to death with the blunt end of an Orvis rod for being such a heretic.
Anyway, I would be interested in your only-one fly choices. I would probably go with a Wooly Bugger or a Gold-Ribbed Hares Ear or Muddler Minnow. If you forced me to pick a dry, I would have to go with an Elk Hair Caddis.
What are yours?
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The older I get the more I would rather be considered a good man than a good fisherman.
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I remember teaching my son to fly fish for the first time when he was 8. We were up on Tincup Creek In Wyoming with hoppers everywhere. I tied on a very realistic looking foam hopper and helped him with the motion intermittently for 5 minutes before he told me to stop helping because he was fine. He caught about 10 10-13 inch Cutthroat on his own in 40 minutes before he was ready to do something else. As we got ready to go I saw a Cutthroat come to the surface and strike a little piece of wood roughly the size of the hoppers that was floating downstream. I think that set off a light bulb that got me thinking about whether the right fly is all that important.
If you gave me the luxury of 2 flies I’d go with the Prince Nymph and the Humpy.
I remember running into a guy up on the Greys River In Wyoming. He said he had caught a 24 inch Cutthroat earlier but then lost the humpy he was using. He asked me if I had any size 12 Humpies I could spare. I offered him several but he declined because I only had red and yellow ones. He had caught the big Cutthroat on a green one.
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Just thinking about this stresses me out! I take more fly boxes on the river with me than you are suggesting I have in flys alone. That said.....
Zebra Midge always does me well
Prince Nymph has a special place in my heart
Sow Bug has caught some of my biggest fish
Salmon Fly cause I LOVE a good salmon fly hatch
Hare's Ear because I just started living this fly a few months ago
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I have to say that I’ve seen some very selective fish. I think if a hatch is good enough the fish sometimes can’t see anything else. Last year on the SouthFork of the Snake we were fishing a rifle that the fish were going off in. And if you weren’t throwing a pmd emerger it was not going to get eaten.
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I'd take a BH hares ear to my grave...
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You wrote:
"All good choices so far.
If I had only one fly, I might take a hard look at a grey comparadun around size 18. It is a simple fly but will do a lot on the surface, in the film, and even stripped back. It can pass for BWO or various other small mayflies.
I would also strongly consider a wooly bugger. It would be
to give up on dry flies, but the wooly bugger is so versatile.
Also in the running:
Egan's Rainbow Warrior (size 16)
Adams in size 14 (this old pattern has fallen from favor but I still tie it)
Corn Fed Caddis
Hare's Ear"
Thanks. I thought about the Adams but I wasn't sure if it was a better choice than the Caddis. Aren't you glad we don't really have to choose just one?
I read once that in old U.S. military survival kits the only lure included was a jig. Sounds a lot like a bugger to me.
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The older I get the more I would rather be considered a good man than a good fisherman.
