Favourite trout flies - lakes / reservoirs

[Bobba]

This may well have been covered before but forum search engine gives nothing despite search permutations.

About to spend some time fly “tying” (“dressing” to the purists) Putting to one side whether it’s spring, summer or autumn, I wondered what others considered as their five favourite patterns?

[oldypigeonpopper]

Only one, lime green and black Montana with gold bead,

[billytheghillie]

Black Pennell

Wickhams Fancy

Bibio

Zulu

Invicta.

[enfieldspares]

On stillwaters in the Midlands it's buzzers and things like diawl bach or similar nymphs. Although i had my best ever "bag" of seven trout on Montanas.

[ditchman]

these are my weapons of choice.........i call them "snot bugs"...........and they work....not very artistic.......more autistic.........when they get wet they become translusant

[Houseplant]

Searching memory here. Cat's whisker in green/white; Marabou montana, either green/black or orange/black; blob in orange. Ridiculously effective at times. Once saw a brown trout scoop a stationary one up off the bottom; Booby, time and place. Fast sinking line and super slow retrieve; Various buzzers. Nothing very traditional here, but I like catching fish. 

[Aled]

Bead Head Olive Damsel (choose your bead colour), Hawthorn fly, Bobs Bits, and buzzers in various colours, managed a few on a Eathafoam Daddy Long Legs last Friday. 

[Walker570]

1 hour ago, ditchman said:

these are my weapons of choice.........i call them "snot bugs"...........and they work....not very artistic.......more autistic.........when they get wet they become translusant

~~~~!!!!!y ugly but effective. 

My favorite if the conditions are right on a lake/reser would be a white muddler skipped across the tops of the waves. You miss two out of three strikes but it does get the nerves jangling.  Took a limit at Blagdon in 30 mins doing this and a guy on the bank called the warden because he thought I must be cheating.

Small brook/river I am/was a dry fly man and almost always fished size 16 or 18 reverse tied dries .... in other words the hackle is tied on the bend and the tail sticks out over the eye. I also tied my mayflies this way.  I won best fly in the Fly Fishing and Tying mag many moons ago for my Pink Lady Mayfly which then got mass produced and I got royalties for a while. That fly has caught me and friends a lot of trout on small streams, so that has to be a favorite also.

BUT there are

[ditchman]

i also used to make cadis fly larva.....and i poo you not ...you could not tell the difference from the real thing.....i used to work them on the shallow shingle areas of reservoirs from the boat...and they worked...

[ehb102]

2 hours ago, ditchman said:

these are my weapons of choice.........i call them "snot bugs"...........and they work....not very artistic.......more autistic.........when they get wet they become translusant

Amazing! Creepy as heck but fabulous work. What do you make them out of, @ditchman Or is that a trade secret? I'd guess some kind of synthetic rubber.

[London Best]

Don’t get Ditchie on about rubber!

[Bobba]

14 minutes ago, ehb102 said:

Amazing! Creepy as heck but fabulous work. What do you make them out of, @ditchman Or is that a trade secret? I'd guess some kind of synthetic rubber.

I was about to ask the same question. Answer awaited with baited breath !

[ditchman]

27 minutes ago, ehb102 said:

Amazing! Creepy as heck but fabulous work. What do you make them out of, @ditchman Or is that a trade secret? I'd guess some kind of synthetic rubber.

piece of flat glass...........paint copedex glue on it....let it dry....cut it into strips.....then roll it like a bogie and feed bits of hair into one end ...and maybe mark it before you roll it with a marker pen..............then split the end with a scapul and lay the hook in a squeeze together

 

job done ...............how easy is that ?

 

EDIT:...........you can make awesome mayflies useing that method.........i have in the past made the wings from clear plastic and then trimmed to shape and size .....try it .......

Edited September 22, 2021 by ditchman

[Fatcatsplat]

Black and green montana, blue flash damsel, wooly ******, humungus, woolybugger humungus (naturally!!) and this time of the year, daddy long legs and spider patterns

Never had any joy with boobies, cats whiskers or diawl bachs unfortunately 

[ehb102]

32 minutes ago, ditchman said:

piece of flat glass...........paint copedex glue on it....let it dry....cut it into strips.....then roll it like a bogie and feed bits of hair into one end ...and maybe mark it before you roll it with a marker pen..............then split the end with a scapul and lay the hook in a squeeze together

 

job done ...............how easy is that ?

 

EDIT:...........you can make awesome mayflies useing that method.........i have in the past made the wings from clear plastic and then trimmed to shape and size .....try it .......

I am in awe at your craftsmanship. 

[ditchman]

23 minutes ago, ehb102 said:

I am in awe at your craftsmanship. 

Awwww   shucks

[TIGHTCHOKE]

A blushing Ditchman!  

[ditchman]

1 hour ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

A blushing Ditchman!  

as opposed to "the flying dutchman" ?

[Smokersmith]

3 hours ago, ditchman said:

then roll it like a bogie

Pick, roll, flick ... GOAL !!

[London Best]

4 hours ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

A blushing Ditchman!  

Would be a great name for a trout fly.

[ditchman]

1 hour ago, London Best said:

Would be a great name for a trout fly.

i quite agree

[Dave at kelton]

7 hours ago, ditchman said:

piece of flat glass...........paint copedex glue on it....let it dry....cut it into strips.....then roll it like a bogie and feed bits of hair into one end ...and maybe mark it before you roll it with a marker pen..............then split the end with a scapul and lay the hook in a squeeze together

 

job done ...............how easy is that ?

 

EDIT:...........you can make awesome mayflies useing that method.........i have in the past made the wings from clear plastic and then trimmed to shape and size .....try it .......

Saw that demonstrated about thirty years ago making mayfly for Lough Corrib I think it was. Amazingly realistic, like yours.

my favourites are

diawl bach

marabouu damsel

bivisible sedge

black pennel

pheasant tail nymph

[Walker570]

I have to admit I have eight fly tying books on my shelves and they are full of favorites for some happy fisher person.  My straw hat has pinned on it a mouse and I have taken some sizeable pike on that 'fly' from very small rivers..

[ditchman]

Greenwells Glory.........(thats an old one)

or "A Butcher"

[oldypigeonpopper]

On 22/09/2021 at 11:11, Walker570 said:

~~~~!!!!!y ugly but effective. 

My favorite if the conditions are right on a lake/reser would be a white muddler skipped across the tops of the waves. You miss two out of three strikes but it does get the nerves jangling.  Took a limit at Blagdon in 30 mins doing this and a guy on the bank called the warden because he thought I must be cheating.

Small brook/river I am/was a dry fly man and almost always fished size 16 or 18 reverse tied dries .... in other words the hackle is tied on the bend and the tail sticks out over the eye. I also tied my mayflies this way.  I won best fly in the Fly Fishing and Tying mag many moons ago for my Pink Lady Mayfly which then got mass produced and I got royalties for a while. That fly has caught me and friends a lot of trout on small streams, so that has to be a favorite also.

BUT there are

Hello, that sounds interesting on your mayfly, a lot of trout flies were copied and taken by those so called experts in the 1970/80s as their own, have you a photo of your pink lady trout fly, ??

Edited September 23, 2021 by oldypigeonpopper