What is your 'go to' dry fly for small streams?

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Mine would be an Elk Hair Caddis in size 14 on 5x tippet.

[cdevine]

Bill, hard to argue with that setup. I fished Leavitt Creek and a few other streams over by Sonora Pass last week and pretty much the caddis dry, small stimulator stone fly, and ant pattern all seemed to work well. I was using 6x but it didn't matter that much. Brookies/ Rainbows were crushing it. Really fun w/ a 3wt butterstick.
Most of these freestone streams at high elevation are damn near perfect right now. (Its almost Sept and I'm saying that)

[tcorfey]

EHC is always a good choice.
I can also vouch for an Adams or a PMD.
Recently when all else failed I pulled out a bushy Royal Wulff which turned the day around big time for me.

Regards,
Tim C.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Royal Wulff is a darker fly and sometime that makes the difference.

About 20 years ago Umpqua would send us their top selling 100 flies.

It was fun to look at it.

[Idadon]

Parachute Adams! But secretly I never leave home without a a few Yellow Humpies.

[PV_Premier]

Parachute Adams! But secretly I never leave home without a a few Yellow Humpies.

Same for me, P Adams.

Second place would probably be an orange stimulator or PMX

Honestly, in most small streams, food isn't always super-abundant and fish are highly opportunistic feeders (not hatch driven), thus they are pretty responsive to attractor dries when water temps are appropriate for dry fly fishing (IMO/IME...)

[Mr T]

Parachute Adams! But secretly I never leave home without a a few Yellow Humpies.

Same here- that adams gets fish to bite

[gitt]

Part of Jack Dennis’ program at a Tracy Fly Fishers club meeting years ago showed out takes of his underwater videos. One particular out take had a series of nymphs in the drift. Occasionally, there was an insect on the surface. The insects sitting on the surface possessed a double or reflected image due to the mirrored effect of water’s surface. What stood out though and actually caught my eye was an insect below or broken through the surface. It did not have that dual image. I had previously experienced pretty consistent success fishing anything that would be considered knock offs or similar but minimalist style of Bob Quigley’s Cripple or the Klinkhammer Special. That vertical positioning both above and below the surface provided that single image for the fish as well as something on the surface to follow its drift. Jack’s video only re-enforced what I had experienced fishing these particular styles. Some might not consider them dries, but they have a special place in my fly box due to their effectiveness.

[PV_Premier]

Part of Jack Dennis’ program at a Tracy Fly Fishers club meeting years ago showed out takes of his underwater videos. One particular out take had a series of nymphs in the drift. Occasionally, there was an insect on the surface. The insects sitting on the surface possessed a double or reflected image due to the mirrored effect of water’s surface. What stood out though and actually caught my eye was an insect below or broken through the surface. It did not have that dual image. I had previously experienced pretty consistent success fishing anything that would be considered knock offs or similar but minimalist style of Bob Quigley’s Cripple or the Klinkhammer Special. That vertical positioning both above and below the surface provided that single image for the fish as well as something on the surface to follow its drift. Jack’s video only re-enforced what I had experienced fishing these particular styles. Some might not consider them dries, but they have a special place in my fly box due to their effectiveness.

Outstanding commentary. I find this to be a major issue where fish are more highly pressured. I rarely if ever fish a dry fly pattern that doesn't sit in or below the film on the Yuba or Truckee, for instance.

[BobVP]

I will have to go with the rest of the folks here that use a Stimulator 12/16 for a "go to" dry. Yellow/orange. It just seems to work best for me when I do not have a lock on what the fish are after.