Favorite Stillwater Fly

[TS30]

What is your favorite stillwater fly? For me it is a black seal bugger. For my purposes, it doesn't get better than that.
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[Tarponjim]

The Toad! Its a saltwater tarpon "fly".

More traditionally, for trout in lakes, it would have to be an adult damsel fly. It's just fun to fish, it floats, it's very visible, and very effective during the summer months. Fish will go out of their way to eat it.
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[riverdog]

Not to get off subject but I've never considered ocean fishing to be stillwater. Even if you don't fish tarpon out in the great blue river of the Gulf Stream you still have to contend with currents and take tides into account.
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[Tarponjim]

You're right about currents. However, I have used the Toad to catch tarpon in both freshwater lakes, as well as in brackish water deep into the Everglades where current is not noticeable. I also "accidentally" caught a few largemouth on it while fishing for tarpon and snook in the same waters. Even in the Keys, there are many "tarpon basins" where fish hold, and the water rises and falls so slowly that no current is visible or noticable.

Also, the Toad has also worked for me in a couple of certain lakes in southern Wyoming with giant brook trout. That's where I was first shown the fly! I tossed one out in Sheep Creek Lake last summer too, and caught my largest fish on that when it was too windy for the adult damsel. It also works on a couple of near-currentless sections of the Green, both in Utah and Wyoming, when there's no hatch. (if you've ever rowed the still stretch of water above Red Creek Rapid in low flows, you know what I mean[]).

It doesn't catch any more fish than a wooly bugger, and isn't near as much fun (for me) as a fly that floats with wings, but it does bring some nice strikes from large fish, both fresh and salt.
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[nkunz]

Any chance of getting a look at the "Toad"?
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[Tarponjim]

Here's a link. Google has lots more ("toad fly"). I use a primarily white one, but color schemes are endless.

http://www.flyfishusa.com/newsletter/052106/
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[Everet14]

Bill Schiess' Black crystal bugger.
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[lunkerhunter2]

BH Olive or Black Wooly Bugger.
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[flygoddess]

Right now, CHIRONOMIDS and if only one, black and white.
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