Flies catch more fly fishers than fish

One of the things I try to promote is the importance of limiting most if not all of your fly box to just those flies that you are confident work for you, you understand what they can be used to represent, and you know how to fish..

Woolly bugger

Red tag

Murdoch

Fuzzy nymph

TBH mayfly nymph

Remember:

• “FLIES CATCH MORE FISHERMEN THAN FISH”.
• Don’t add a fly to your fly box just because you like the look of it. Think about its “FORM & FUNCTION”.
• ts important to “LOOK AT A FLY & HOW YOU FISH IT FROM THE FISHES PERSPECTIVE”.
• The number of fly boxes you carry is obviously one of personal choice. One difficulty you may encounter when you are setting up your fly boxes is which flies you should include, and how many flies you should carry in your fly box or boxes. The last thing you want to be doing is standing on the bank of a river madly pulling flies out to find a fly you know is there . . .somewhere, but it isn’t where you expected to find it or you fly box or boxes are so crowded with flies that the one you are desperately looking for is hidden away . . .somewhere.
• I am pretty hard on myself when it comes to sorting out my fly boxes and I adhere to just a few simple self imposed rules:
• Only carry flies I that I am confident work for me, and I understand what they can be used to represent, and how to fish them.
• Only carry enough flies in my fly boxes to fill each box without flies being hidden away under other flies.

If I were limited to just one fly for trout fishing it would have to be a size #10 black, brown or olive lightly weighted woolly bugger. By swapping lines you can fish them at a variety of depths and woolly buggers have a reputation for taking a range of fish world wide.

If I had a bit more latitude and wanted a small selection of flies that would cover most trout fishing applications I would carry the fist fly in each of the following categories. If I could carry more I would add the second fly in each category and so on.

There are only really two types of flies dry flies and wet flies. A dry fly is any fly that is designed to be fished on or in the surface film of the water. Dry flies can however be divided into a number of logical categories.

See also:

1. Getting started – the gear
2. Getting started – dry trout flies
3. Getting started – wet trout flies
4. Getting started – salt water flies
5. Getting started – bass and native fish flies