Fly ID Question

[basshappy]

My boy has a bug for trout fishing. It is foreign to me. We have been using our spinning gear and various flies to fish for trout. I have a mess of flies but I don't know much about them. From my boy's reading online it seems different months have different flies and smart (older, bigger) trout know the difference.

While my boy works away online trying to identify the flies we have, does anyone have any recommendations for:
- websites that they find useful for identifying flies or which flies to use during which months?
- which flies are best used now in July?

Any links, insight, info is greatly appreciated. Be it here or in a PM. Here is a pic of my boy working online trying to figure out the flies we have and when to use them.

 

[gobbleinwoods]

This one from the goldrushtu.org might be helpful

GA Hatch Chart – Gold Rush Chapter – Trout Unlimited

goldrushtu.org

 

[Tight Lines]

Where are you fishing? NoGa?

Here is a hatch chart for NoGa in addition to the one above which is also good:

North Georgia Hatch Chart

This is a hatch chart for the North Georgia Mountains area. Depending on location within the State it could vary by a week or so. January Insects Time of Month Time of Day Flies To Use General Flies All Month All Day 12-18 Prince Nymph 12-18 Hares Ear 12-18 Zug Bug 12-18 Prince Nymph 16-24...

thesoaringeagleoutfitters.com

For pics of the flies, any of the online retailers typically have good pics of flies...Orvis, FlyShop, etc. and I buy some flies here:

Big Y Fly Co® Best Selling Fly Fishing Flies-Since 2004-Discount Flies

Premium branded direct to consumer hand tied fly fishing flies. Largest inventory of trout flies, steelhead flies, saltwater flies, salmon flies, and bass flies same day free shipping. Featuring Orvis, Sage, Rio, Fishpond and other leading fly fishing brands, and huge selection of fly tying...

www.bigyflyco.com

There are a bunch of books on flies and fly tying...one example:

Amazon.com

And:

Fish Flies: The Encyclopedia of the Fly Tier's Art: Hellekson, Terry: 9781586856922: Amazon.com: Books

Fish Flies: The Encyclopedia of the Fly Tier's Art [Hellekson, Terry] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Fish Flies: The Encyclopedia of the Fly Tier's Art

www.amazon.com

Best of luck to your young man! It's a great sport and fun to learn...

 

[NCHillbilly]

Post some pics on here and we can probably help you out. There are a lot of fly patterns that work well year-round, and some that are better at certain times of year. But, don't get hung up on all that matching the hatch literature too much. Our trout aren't super picky like those limestone spring creek and tailwater fish out west. And I doubt if those fish are as picky as they make them out to be. Around here, good presentation is usually 100x more important than the fly pattern you have tied on, most times.

 

[basshappy]

@gobbleinwoods @KS Bow Hunter thank y'all so much. I should have mentioned he found both the N GA WNC chart and the other one. He still has a couple dozen flies not yet identified but I told him they might be homemade critters or variants or just not on those two pages.

He moved over to Orvis web site and started looking through the flies they sell to try to identify his.

His ultimate goal is to learn which flies he has and which month(s) they are useful in N GA, and keep them organized.

If anyone has organization of flies they'd like to share that would be awesome!

 

[gobbleinwoods]

@gobbleinwoods @KS Bow Hunter thank y'all so much. I should have mentioned he found both the N GA WNC chart and the other one. He still has a couple dozen flies not yet identified but I told him they might be homemade critters or variants or just not on those two pages.

He moved over to Orvis web site and started looking through the flies they sell to try to identify his.

His ultimate goal is to learn which flies he has and which month(s) they are useful in N GA, and keep them organized.

If anyone has organization of flies they'd like to share that would be awesome!

We have in the past done a fly swap. Does he have just one fly of each variety?

When he identifies them post a list.

I am getting ready to tie a bunch for a BSA camp which teaches fly fishing merit badge so what is one or more of those I tie.

 

[NCHillbilly]

@gobbleinwoods @KS Bow Hunter thank y'all so much. I should have mentioned he found both the N GA WNC chart and the other one. He still has a couple dozen flies not yet identified but I told him they might be homemade critters or variants or just not on those two pages.

He moved over to Orvis web site and started looking through the flies they sell to try to identify his.

His ultimate goal is to learn which flies he has and which month(s) they are useful in N GA, and keep them organized.

If anyone has organization of flies they'd like to share that would be awesome!

If I waited for a hatch or seeing a rising fish, I would almost never fish.
Some dry flies that work well most times of the year on both wild and stocked fish and will imitate a variety of stuff:

Parachute Adams
Female Adams
Yellow Palmer
Orange Palmer (best in late summer and fall)
Thunderhead
Yellow Stimulator
Haystack
Elk-hair caddis in gray, green, tan, or yellow

Nymphs that work well most any time:

Tellico
Prince
Pheasant Tail
Coffee/black Pat's Rubber Legs
Hare's Ear
San Juan Worm
Copper John

Also hard to beat a Woolley Bugger many times.

 

[Tight Lines]

@gobbleinwoods @KS Bow Hunter thank y'all so much. I should have mentioned he found both the N GA WNC chart and the other one. He still has a couple dozen flies not yet identified but I told him they might be homemade critters or variants or just not on those two pages.

He moved over to Orvis web site and started looking through the flies they sell to try to identify his.

His ultimate goal is to learn which flies he has and which month(s) they are useful in N GA, and keep them organized.

If anyone has organization of flies they'd like to share that would be awesome!

Lay them out and send a picture of them...depending on where you fish, it's less important that the fly is perfect in terms of the current hatch, but rather presentation, size, and color...there are some flies that always seem to work...and some that certainly work better during other times of the year...

 

[NCHillbilly]

And, 99% of the time, the best fly pattern is the one that isn't dragging.

 

[Tight Lines]

@gobbleinwoods @KS Bow Hunter thank y'all so much. I should have mentioned he found both the N GA WNC chart and the other one. He still has a couple dozen flies not yet identified but I told him they might be homemade critters or variants or just not on those two pages.

He moved over to Orvis web site and started looking through the flies they sell to try to identify his.

His ultimate goal is to learn which flies he has and which month(s) they are useful in N GA, and keep them organized.

If anyone has organization of flies they'd like to share that would be awesome!

PM me an address and I'll send you some extras I have...

 

[Tight Lines]

Also, if the flies are from some sort of a starter kit or budget pack of flies, they are likely imported and may not truly match anything "typical" if you know what I mean...

 

[gobbleinwoods]

If I waited for a hatch or seeing a rising fish, I would almost never fish.
Some dry flies that work well most times of the year on both wild and stocked fish and will imitate a variety of stuff:

Parachute Adams
Female Adams
Yellow Palmer
Orange Palmer (best in late summer and fall)
Thunderhead
Yellow Stimulator
Haystack
Elk-hair caddis in gray, green, tan, or yellow

Nymphs that work well most any time:

Tellico
Prince
Pheasant Tail
Coffee/black Pat's Rubber Legs
Hare's Ear
San Juan Worm
Copper John

Also hard to beat a Woolley Bugger many times.

I'll be tying most of these as samples for the Boy Scouts. The scouts have to tie flies for the merit badge.

 

[Tight Lines]

There was a thread a while back about everyone's favorite "few" flies...it's a great list of what works...can't recall the name of the thread..

 

[NCHillbilly]

There is also a fly recipe sticky in this forum.

 

[basshappy]

We have in the past done a fly swap. Does he have just one fly of each variety?

When he identifies them post a list.

I am getting ready to tie a bunch for a BSA camp which teaches fly fishing merit badge so what is one or more of those I tie.

I will take pics and post soon what he has. He has some new ones we bought, some I bought long ago, and some we acquired in a trade. Basically a cup of flies. LOL

 

[basshappy]

 

[basshappy]

 

[basshappy]

Ignore the months on this one. This is a mess of flies he hasn't figured out yet. Either name or month.

 

[Tight Lines]

Nice selection of flies...hard to tell what some of them are...others that are avid tiers may be better at IDing than me...here are a few that I can tell...

Last picture...

Column 1:
- orange at top looks to be a Firecracker
- 5 from top looks to be an olive wooly bugger
- below that I think that's a bead head pheasant tail
- below that is a never sink caddis

Column 2:
- top 4 are salmon egg patterns
- 3 down from there is a wooly worm (pink tail)

Columns 3-4:
- halfway down is black rubber leg nymph
- bottom two look to be rubber leg stimulators

Column 5 (Dec):
- elk hair caddis
- bottom two are yellow foam back beetles

Column 6:
- 3-5 are black elk hair caddis
- 7 is a copper john
- 2 from bottom is a bead head prince nymph I think

Next two columns:
- in the middle is a mosquito dry

Last column:
- another wooly worm
- San Juan worm
- 2 from bottom is a bead head wooly bugger variant


That's my best guess on some of those, when I have some time I may print it off and see if I can see what more of them are...

If others think the above is incorrect, please feel free to correct me!

 

[turkeykirk]

Looks like he’s got a pretty good selection.