The greatest fly ever ?????

[David Lee]

How 'bout a little informal poll ??

Let's hear your opinion on what the greatest fly ever designed is - doesn't have to be your favorite , just the single most perfect , versitle , useful fly . Wet , Dry , Salt , multi-species , whatever ........

Name that bug and tell everyone why -

David

[paulegan81]

The Woolly Bugger!!!!!!

No contest!!!!!
GAME OVER!!!!

Paul.....

[Darian]

Well,.... If I have to pick just one, I'd pick the Sea Habit style fly. :cool:

Sea Habits are durable, effective whether scaled up or down in size and minor variations are easily done. The fly design doesn't obstruct the gap of the hook. They cast easily (even in large sizes) and track well on the retrieve. :cool:

Sea Habits imitate baitfish about as close as can be done. Good for almost any species in the salt, Stripers and Black Bass in fresh water. :cool:

This is a tough one for a salt water guy, there're a bunch of very good patterns that I've left out.... :-D

[gene goss]

Woolly buggers are arguably the most productive flies in the world....the other night at the Granite Bay Flycasters meeting was members night and i used my fish aquarium tank to demonstration the different actions you get from attracter flies, woolly buggers, wiggle tails, clouser, etc.....the wiggle tail flie is a woolly bugger it's just tied on a short shank hook....a wiggle tail tied with out any weight is a fine fly for fishing over weed beds because it has a slowwwww sink rate and lots of life.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Some of the top selling flies are the Adams Paradun, Elk Hair Caddis, Prince Nymph, Wolley Bugger and Clouser Minnow.

They have a multi-day fly fishing contest back at Jackson Hole that is called "The One Fly" which is for trout. I guess you get one fly to fish for a few days. Loose it and your done.

I like to see the flies, in person, that very serious veteran fly fishers use.

[loganmike]

Gotta go with a nicely tied soft hackle on this one.

Can fish as a nymph, swing, hell, I can even put enough gink on it to fish as a dry fly! That, and you can't beat a take on the swing!

me

[David Lee]

All the above flies are great choices !

My ultimate fly is ........

Larry Dahlberg's Diver .

Tied correctly (and doing that takes a fair amount of skill/trial and error....) , it does what NO other fly can do . Tied small or large , in a bunch of different colors , likely the most useful fly in my box . I have no doubt that it will take any species of fish , anywhere . Hands-down , the MOST FUN fly there is to fish !

I'm kinda suprised that the Clouser Deep Minnow and Lefty's Deciever haven't made the list yet ......?

David

[robdog]

What about Lefty's Deceiver or the Gold Hare's Ear??? I agree the Wooly Bugger is on the top 3 of all flies, but I have had success w/ these as well. Another one that comes to my mind is a Black gnat imitation & the Muddler Minnow. The later being a multi-faceted fly to use. Dry or wet, you can catch fish;)

[Hairstacker]

For the kind of fishing I mostly do (i.e., topwater Delta bass), my most useful fly remains the red/white Tap's Bug. :lol:

[Fochetti]

I'd have to go with the good old Pheasant Tail for trout, imitates everything.
Steelhead however, I am going with the Silver Hilton, hands down has caught me the most fish.

Although I would rather use a Coon Muddler and see them take it any day.

[Tony P]

That's easy! A Clouser will catch any fish that swims fresh or salt.

Tony P

[Bakerloo]

They have a multi-day fly fishing contest back at Jackson Hole that is called "The One Fly" which is for trout. I guess you get one fly to fish for a few days. Loose it and your done.

I like to see the flies, in person, that very serious veteran fly fishers use.

That's where the Chernobyl Ant became famous. It (or a variation) has won 4 or 5 times.

[Dabalone]

The way the question is put I will give another vote for the wooly bugger, just about anything that swims will take it. You can confidently use this pattern or variation of from high altitude lakes all the way down to the warm water of the delta where it meets salt water and anything in between.

[paulegan81]

Dablone,
you have a great point........

I feel the woolly bugger is the best one fly you could have if you could only have one type of design.....

the fly that is the most fun to fish..... is a Umpqua swimming frog... I just love sneaking it out from the bank some what obviously........... followed closely by their swimming bait fish...... then the bubble head.......

my most productive fly is the Super minnow...of course I'm biased in that.....

Paul...
tight lines to all
and to all a good fight.....

[oldtrout]

Bird's nest.

[Fats]

Woolly Bugger... no need to ask any more. It's too versitile and will catch anythiing!

[Darrin.Deel]

birds nests, PT's, Prince Nymphs, Buggers, Clousers.

[Jeff C.]

Dirty Bird for half-pounders!

[Larry S]

Saw this in the latest edition of Midcurrent.

http://www.midcurrent.com/flyfishing/top_ten_flies.aspx


If you don't already do so, you should sign up for this. Free and informative.
Cheers,
Larry S
San Diego

[Tony P]

Saw this in the latest edition of Midcurrent.

http://www.midcurrent.com/flyfishing/top_ten_flies.aspx


If you don't already do so, you should sign up for this. Free and informative.
Cheers,
Larry S
San Diego

Looking at everyones list of flies in that article I would say that most are fishing for trout. Just my opinion.

Tony P

[jburge]

Anybody see this one?

http://www.fieldandstream.com/fiveflies

You gotta laugh looking at the first two.

John

[Hairstacker]

jburge, entertaining list and write-ups, thanks! Some flies on there you don't often think about, like the Black Ghost streamer. 'Course, I'm often thinking about #23. :D Some great ideas for the vise. :!:

[Brig Jones]

It's hard to argue with those already mentioned. My bias is the muddler minnow. Flexible and deadly. Brig Jones.:fish:

[FISHEYE]

There are so many good flies out there its hard to pick but if I think of the one fly I have caught more different species of fish on it would be a chart/white clouser. I have caught king and coho salmon, steelhead, bonefish, tarpon, spanish mackeral, kingfish, bonito, about 6 species of snapper, ladyfish, roosterfish, barracuda, and maybe 6 species of jacks. I am sure there are a few I have forgotten.

[Darian]

Gotta love those salty flies..... =D> =D> =D>

[Bob Scheidt]

Another vote for the bugger, which is no surprise from me.

Parachutes are very good too.

Bob

[PaulC]

Another vote for the clouser.
-P

[Jgoding]

I think it was covered but to garner a vote I think the fly would have to show a lot of versatility even though some flies are killer on certain species or type of fish in a lot of areas... Because I love this fly, I'm going with a Whitlock Sheep Shad..... It can be adapted to mimic a lot of different species and by scaling it up and down in size could catch a wide range of species.... I use the deep sheep most often but find the floating one a great pattern on a type 7 shooter as well. Even trout love that thing.

[fflutterffly]

Red Fox Squirrel Tail.
I tie this down as small as possible and as large as I dare. I've brought in 24" Bows and small little trouts of all kinds. I can see, when doing the glass bowl test, that this nymph has universal appeal.

However, If you were to divide this poll up into three divisions:
Streamer: Any rabbit strip with flash streamer in numerous colors
Dry: Royal Wulff
Nymph: RFST

[dpentoney]

As far as trout fishing....wooly bugger?....might as well use worms.......

Don't flame me...Just kidding...Sort of!

How about a #16 Adams?

[Bringsfire]

yeah okay I gotta give my nod to the good ol' bugger as well. It's the second fly I learned to tie (green butted skunk was the first). I was about 12 when I learned to tie it and I fished it, an Adams, and the skunk (the skunk for steelhead) and very little else for many years. Part of the beauty of being a kid is we find something that works regularly so why keep looking, we could be fishing!

I'm glad you posed this question because it forced me to really consider this for a few minutes. I realized that I get very wrapped up in the specifics and intricacies of all these funky patterns, checking flows, reports, driving for hours to "hot" locations, and all that good stuff. I wonder what happened to tying up a couple of woolly buggers, grabbing my gear and running down to the nearest fishable water?