By Ken Kastorff
Probably the most confusing thing about fly fishing is fly selection. Anytime someone asks me what fly is working best, I am reminded of one of Pat McMannis’s story’s. Pat McMannis compiled several books from the stories he wrote for the back page of Outdoor Life Magazine. His story of The Purest comes to mind. He was fishing a stream and another fly angler came up and noticed he was catching one trout after another. The new angler snuck up to get a closer look at what fly Pat was using. Just at that time, Pat set the hook and missed a fish. The hook came flying back behind him and hung up in a tree limb right in front of the other fly angler. The hook dangled there with a worm on it and Pat quickly smiled and explained that that was the problem with those number 16 pheasant tails, they kept catching worms.
Simplifying things as much as possible, you can break Fly selection down into three catagories: Streamers, Terrestrials and Flies. The fly catagory can be further broken down into four sub-catagories.
Streamers – Anything that is stream bred that is a food source for fish. Minnows, leaches, crayfish, sculpins, etc., are examples of streamers. Some of the popular streamer patterns include the old “tried and true” wooly buggers, zonkers, muddled minnows, and all of the Clauser minnow patterns. Newer patterns are coming out daily. Probably the most interesting thing is the use of new materials. A very good streamer pattern is Todd’s Wiggle Minnow. This is the fly angler’s version of a rappala. It is made entirely out of foam. Another recent improvement is making jointed streamers, like the Game Changer. Both the Todd’s Minnow and the Game Changer are copies of bait fiching plugs that have been modified so they can be thrown with a fly rod.
Terrestrials – Anything that is land bred that falls into the water that is a food source for fish. Here, the list is almost endless. Grasshoppers, crickets, worms, beetles, spiders, and the list goes on and on… Some of the popular patterns will include, hopper patterns like Dave’s Hopper, worm patterns, like the San Juan Worm, and beetle patterns, like the Japanese Beetle. Interestingly, one of the more popular terrestrials is also the Wooly Bugger. Here again, new materials have improved old patterns. One of the best terrestrials is the Squirmy Wormy. It is tied with rubber tubing, giving it life like action. Many of the new hopper patterns are utilizing foam to make the fly float without having to use liquid floatant.
Flies – Okay, here is where things get a little more complicated. First, what are flies? There are four basic types of flies: Mayflies, Caddis Flies, Stone Flies and Midges. Mayflies can be identified easily as their wings stand up over their backs and their tails are upswept with 2 – 3 thin filaments. Caddies flies carry their wings over their backs like a pup tent. Stone flies carry their wings flat over their backs. Midges are a mystery for most fly anglers. They include, black flies, mosquitoes, gnats, etc. I usually explain midges as those flies that you need a magnifying glass to see.
Let’s take a look at the life cycle of a normal fly.
Day one, they fly around and mate. After mating, they will set down on the water and lay their eggs. Once they’ve laid their eggs they take off and fly around for a while and then die. During this part of their life cycle, they are referred to as spinners. When the fly dies, it goes into an erratic death spiral and spins down eventually falling back into the water. When the flies are laying their eggs, they float along at the surface at the speed of the current. The fly patterns in this part of their life cycle are referred to as Dry Flies. After they die and fall back into the water, you will hear them referred as Spinners. So how do you decide what fly to choose? The secret here is match-the-hatch. The two most important things to look for are size and color. Simplifying things further, you can generally expect that the flies will be black in color in the winter, grey moving to white through spring, yellow and light grey in the summer and going back darker in the fall.
Day two through up to three years. Remember those eggs that the dry fly laid? They sink to the bottom of the river and hatch out into nymphs. This is the pupa stage of the life cycle. These nymphs will crawl under rocks, or in the case of the caddies fly, will build a cacoon out of sand particles and small sticks. Occasionally, these nymphs break free and tumble along the bottom of the river. They are, arguably, one of the most important food sources for trout. There have been lots of books written on how to effectively fish nymphs. Here again, there are different nymph patterns for different seasons. Some of the more popular nymph patterns are: Pheasant Tails, Hares Ears, and Copper Johns. Some nymphs really don’t resemble natural insects, but are still very successful patterns. One of the classic and most popular is the Prince Nymph. Some of the newer patterns include the Mop Fly, which is tied using the strands of material cut from a bath mat. Another very popular and successful fly is the Turd Fly. This is a simple pattern that looks a bit like a Wooly Bugger, except there is no marabou tail and, instead of wrapping a hackle around the body, rubber legs are added, making the fly look alive in the water. his is a killer stonefly imitation.
The last part of the life cycle of the fly are the emergers. At some point in the life cycle, due to water temperature or angle of the sun, or just timing of the season, the nymph will begin to float back up to the surface of the river, or in the case of the stone fly, will crawl up out of the water on the side of a rock or log. The mayfly and caddies nymph will float to the surface and, on its way up, will have developed a wing case. Once the fly reaches the surface of the water, it will unfold its wings, let them dry, and eventually fly off to start the whole process all over again. The only difference is with the stonefly. Once it crawls out of the water, it does an “alien” and the top of the thorax cracks open and the new stone fly emerges and flies off to start its mating process. There are lots of emerger patterns. Most are fished just under the surface film. Many nymphs can be fished as emergers simply by letting the nymph come to the surface after the dead drift along the bottom of the river.
So there you go! It sounds complicated and if you want to delve deeper into entomology, you can certainly make it as complicated as you want. If you really get bored one winter, you can even take it to the point of learning the tongue twisting scientific names of all the insects. Me, I am satisfied with color and size and taking a moment to look at the river before I start fishing. If I see surface activity then I get my dry fly box out and try to match what the fish are eating on the surface. If there is no surface activity, then I will get the nymph or streamer box out and experiment a bit until I hit upon the right fly. If that doesn’t work, then I’ll go back to basics. Fish like worms. So a Squirmy Wormy might just do the trick. Ninety-nine percent of the time, that is all you need to know.
Ken Kastorff is a Guide and the Owner of Endless River Adventures. To book a guided trip near The Nantahala Gorge or the Cheoah River, give him a call at 1-(800) 224-7238 or look him up at www.nantahalariverflyfishing.com.