I need a reference guide to all the new fangled flies!

[Bkeepr]

I used to fly fish back in the 80s and 90s. I want to get back into it and am gradually adding to my antiquated gear LOL!!! I called my brother who is a technical fly fishing snob for advice and he lost me in two sentences but anyway Euro-nymphing sounds fun! So, can anyone recommend a good photo book of flies? Y2K didn't exist when I was fishing! I went to a local fly fishing shop and bought some good looking flies but now I don't remember what I bought. I was always a fan of weighted wooly boogers and royal wulfs.

 

[Meriwether Mike]

Check out some fly shop websites. They will have pictures and the names. Blue Quill Angler, Blue Ribbon Flies or Tactical Fly Fisher are a few to check out.

 

[Para Bellum]

Umpqua website might help.

 

[splatek]

I was always a fan of weighted wooly boogers and royal wulfs.

...The classics still work really well. A royal wulff will catch about anything that swims and is looking up and in my limited experience a bugger will catch just about anything that isn't looking up. My understanding of all the fancy new flies is that they are really just plays on old standards, but many include tungsten beads to sink faster for tightline nymphing. Check out Big Y Fly shop (google it) - they sell pretty much the same thing as the higher end stuff, but for a fraction of the price. Remember, pretty flies are for the angler, trout/fish still mainly eat tiny black and/or brown things.

 

[Taxman]

Splatek hit it on the head. Tungsten beads and jig hooks were
probably around then but certainly more prevalent now. Really
aren't certain they are more effective than the lead and traditional
hook though.

Presentation was king in the 80's and still is)

 

[gobbleinwoods]

Check out the flyshack also for flys. Most run about $0.89.

Here is a good link the was reprinted by the Gold Rush Chapter of TU that outlines flies for trout in NE GA month by month. You then can go searching how to tie them as lots of videos on the web.

http://goldrushtu.org/ga-hatch-chart/

 

[Bkeepr]

thanks for all the info! I should have known that trout would not look at a fly and go "Yuck! That is soooo 80s. I'm not eating it!"

 

[NCHillbilly]

I tie and use some of the newfangled patterns, but most of my fishing is still done with old traditional southern Appalachian patterns that have worked well for a hundred years or more, and still do. I do tie almost all my nymphs with tungsten beadheads combined with lead wire now, and sometimes substitute foam for dubbing on dry fly bodies.

I would say that 90% of my fishing is done with about a dozen patterns.

 

[flyrod444]

It would be hard pressed for anyone to know the name of all the flies available today. The one nymph I use most is the Pat Rubber Leg Stonefly.

 

[NCHillbilly]

It would be hard pressed for anyone to know the name of all the flies available today. The one nymph I use most is the Pat Rubber Leg Stonefly.

Yes sir. It is an amazing fly. Bigguns like it., too. I tie it in coffee/black and yellow/black. My other go-to nymphs are two of mine called the Verlin Deluxe and the Cataloochee Catfly, the Prince, yellow-winged Prince for dingy water, Higa's SOS, A rubber-legged black stone I tie, and a butano Perdigon.

 

[splatek]

Tellico nymph for the win. Always.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Tellico nymph for the win. Always.

They still work just as good as they ever did.

 

[gobbleinwoods]

They still work just as good as they ever did.

The few I've tied have a bead head. Do you tie with one and if so what color?

 

[HarryO45]

Euro-nymphing sound s fun!

I tried it for the first time a couple years ago... Land of the Noonday Sun.

more recently for Redeye Bass in Tallapoosa

lots of fun and effective

 

[NCHillbilly]

The few I've tied have a bead head. Do you tie with one and if so what color?

Yeah, usually a tungsten head in black nickel or copper.

 

[NCHillbilly]

I tried it for the first time a couple years ago... Land of the Noonday Sun.

more recently for Redeye Bass in Tallapoosa

lots of fun and effective

They act like Euro-nymphing is a new thing, but that's pretty much how all the old-timers around here fished nymphs when I was growing up. High-stick tight-lining a pair of nymphs with a long rod, and often a reel spooled with mono. It's how I originally learned to nymph fish, indicators weren't known of back then. Nowadays, I mostly use a hybrid method between Euro and old-time tightlining. Ten-foot three weight with a 20-foot mono rig and sighter. It's very effective.

 

[HarryO45]

Exactly I use a multicolored colored indicator / sighted tippet and really like it. i am gonna build a lightweight ten foot rod next. I borrowed the rig I have used and plan to build my own... actually, two of them, one for my son.

 

[Wifeshusband]

thanks for all the info! I should have known that trout would not look at a fly and go "Yuck! That is soooo 80s. I'm not eating it!"

Oh, no, they still go for all that old stuff. I've been in and out of the sport for decades and haven't updated. (I am still using fiberglass from the 60's). But I got to get used to this idea of putting split shot on a leader and using a bobber (yes, let's be honest, the round plastic/cork things they call "indicators" are "bobbers," but they won't let us call them that) for nymphing. They tell me there are still "purists" in England who will not consider fly fishing for trout unless it's done only with a dry, and, then, only upon a trout that is seen "rising." A bit stuffy, I say, 'ol boy.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Oh, no, they still go for all that old stuff. I've been in and out of the sport for decades and haven't updated. (I am still using fiberglass from the 60's). But I got to get used to this idea of putting split shot on a leader and using a bobber (yes, let's be honest, the round plastic/cork things they call "indicators" are "bobbers," but they won't let us call them that) for nymphing. They tell me there are still "purists" in England who will not consider fly fishing for trout unless it's done only with a dry, and, then, only upon a trout that is seen "rising." A bit stuffy, I say, 'ol boy.

If you waited to see a rise here before you cast a fly, you'd cast to about half a dozen fish a year. This ain't the chalk streams of merry old England. I love catching fish on a dry fly, but you catch more and a lot bigger ones on nymphs. I usually use a combination of lead wire on the shank, tungsten beads, and split shot on the leader. As someone once said, often, the difference between a mediocre nymph fisherman and a great nymph fisherman is a couple split shot.

 

[Wifeshusband]

Oh, I agree, I was making fun of our English "purist" brethren. I do very little dry fly fishing, (except in late of summer) but I have always fished my nymphs and wet flys on the "angled swing," without weights, other than the weight of the flies themselves and done alright. But then again, I fish somewhat small, shallow streams where getting it "down" is normally not a problem.