flys for small rivers

[Deleted]

I believe, and a number of my peers also wonder, if fly types are over complicated.
On any small river what are the 4 flies that work !!!
The Tenkara master with a box full of identical flies may be on to something .
The "match the hatch" approach has never delivered for me, maybe i'm not very good at it,,,lol
There seems to be an effort to 'add mystery' to the hundreds of flies avaliable .. possibly to encourage sales ...!
I fish buzzers on the local res, Thrybergh ... and Tenkara patterns on the Don and Rivlin .. and catch fish ..... surely it's not that simple ....

[leckie]

landsurfer,

I think your right in some respects....that the western approach tends to overcomplicate things...for the past year and a half now since I have been fishing tenkara the most I have changed flies is 6 times in one fishing session therefore personally don't need more than 6 different patterns in my fly box....I do only ever take one fly box with me but I must confess the fly box has about 20 different patterns in it...but if I only use 6 standard flies then I'm probably OTT...but at least it's only one fly box that I'm carrying ;D

tight lines

Alex

[Deleted]

I don't find fly fishing complicated in any form, for me it's the simplest form of fishing. Rather than concentrating on "matching the hatch" (which is necessary at times) it can be far more productive to "match the stage" or "match the conditions".

Perhaps Tenkara works (big generalization) because of the types of waters and conditions where it is used. From what I've read about Tenkara it's generally used (or was designed to be) on mountain streams where fast water dominates and trout must decide quickly or go hungry. I know from my own experience of this type of water that trout that live in this environment will accept almost any fly that looks like food.

My fly fishing to this point has been "Western" and on my local waters the trout diet is dominated by Mayflies (up-wings), Caddis fly, Stonefly, Midge, Crustaceans and other Fish. This is what is represented in my fly box, the important stages of each food items life cycle. This is not complicated, it's just common sense, on waters where trout must be opportunistic it's far easier to take a "one fly" (or any fly) approach because of the environment.

North Country Spiders are not complicated, nor is a PTN, GRHE, Paradun, Clyde Style Flies, Woolly Bugger, Loopwing Caddis, Killer Bug etc. etc.

Since when did Tenkara have a monopoly on simplicity ?.

[JP]

Fly fishing is such a diverse sport and the rise of the internet has provided such a proliferation of techniques and fly patterns that it may seem overcomplicated at times.

A traditional tenkara fisherman may have fished only one river (or river system) for his entire life. The intimate knowledge gained fishing one river can often lead to a simplified approach.

This simplicity is not exclusive to tenkara however. Many parts of the world have very simple traditional fishing methods. Within the UK North Country Spiders and Clyde Style Wets are just a couple of regional techniques where a simple approach is the norm.

Most traditional methods come from the days when fishing was a means of survival either by eating or trading/selling your catch. When your flies are your "tools of the trade" there's no desire to take risks by changing what works for you. You don't see a builder with a van full of different shovels or a joiner with a bag full of hammers.

In our modern (relatively affluent era) we fish for pleasure and with that comes the freedom to indulge; whether that be in myriad fly patterns, matching the hatch or crazy Japanese fishing styles with only one fly.

I don't think there's a right or wrong answer on numbers of fly patterns. If your satisfaction lies in dozens of flies matching every insect in detail and catching fish or in fishing with only one fly pattern and catching fish the end result is still the same.... Happy anglers catching fish!

[hobgoblin]

Landsurfer,

I fished a small river for several years, (not in the club now but that's a different story - I'm waiting for the demise of someone) I found that a few flies worked all season.
I believe that in small steams fish are mostly opportunist feeders and if it looks like something that's usually on their menu its fair game.

I myself keep looking in my fly boxes wondering why I keep carrying all these magic flies that occasionally catch fish, instead of just the ones that are productive.

Several years ago in Flyfishing and Fytying had a year long article by Calvert and Croft and their simplified approach to fly selection, all their dry flies for instance were the same pattern, but in different sizes and colours to suit conditions. Other patterns they carried, emergers, wets and nymph were all based on the same idea.
I am trying to reduce the amount of flies that I carry and base my choices on the C and C's theory.

But being human we all read magazine articles and then tie up the latest killing pattern, what we should be doing is adopting their ideas for our own fishing.

Hobgoblin

[Deleted]

One of the things I learned when I worked for Orvis is that flies have 2 purposes. Listed in order of priority:

1. Catch fisherman to make them spend money.

2. Catch fish.