Your Dirty Dozen

[raffensg64]

Gents, let's compare notes and personal preferences! If you were limited to ONLY twelve fly patterns for the rest of your fly fishing lives, what would they be? Many patterns comes in different colors, of course, and some can have bead heads, but try to stick with the basics. Here are mine....

Hares Ear
Prince Nymph
Pheasant Tail
Wooley bugger
Stillwater Nymph
Zug Bug
Carey Special
Zebra Midge
Blood Worm
Elk Hair Caddis
Parachute Adams
Yellow Stimulator

That was hard because some good patterns, unlisted of course, fell by the wayside!!! But these twelve would keep me on fish every day, year after year, in both rivers and lakes.

[dbk]

Only twelve patterns??!! I am not sure that I could ever limit myself like that, particuarly if those patterns were all that could be used for both lakes and streams, but I'll play anyway. Here is my list:

Lightning bug
Copper John
Golden Stone Nymph
Dave's caddis pupa (my own pattern)
Pheasant tail
bubble brassie
v-rib chironomid
birdsnest nymph
Blood worm
Six Pack
Parachute emerger
Comparadun

Too difficult. Ask me this same question tomorrow and I probably come up with a different list of patterns. Had to leave the hare's ear out because I do not fish it that much, although your success with it lately had got me to tie a few more up for when I come home. I do fish a hare's ear style pattern tied on a scud hook with crystal flash ribbing instead of gold tinsel (a great fly for small stream cutts in MT- but then almost any pattern can work for cuties!).

[Smalma]

Boy it would be tough to limit myself to a dozen flies - there are some pretty diverse fishing here in western Washington but if I were limited to 12 for the fishing I typcially do in a calendar year they would include:

Knudsen spiders - for my sea-run cutthroat and river coho
A bait fish streamer - large trout, bull trout, steelhead, salt water salmon
A sculpin streamer - large trout, bass, bull trout, steelhead, salt and freshwater salmon
A yak hair streamer - for large toothy critters - ling cod etc
A Grey Wulff - Skating pattern for summer steelhead
Deer hair popper - bass
Elk hair caddis for trout
Dark olive soft hackle
A stone fly nymph
BWO
Copper John
Grasshopper

I would be very uncomfortable with that limited selection but then I have at least 18 fly boxes stuffed with flies for the various fisheries I normal take part in.

Tight lines
Curt

[raffensg64]

Smalma, very interesting. You fish some very diverse species! See-run cutts, salmon, steelhead, and bass too! Sounds cool! Your dirty dozen must have been tough!

[jmay]

My top 12 (not in order) I have 10 boxes full of flys but these are the only ones I ever seem to use

1 Brassie
2 Zugbug
3 Pheasant tail
4 hare's ear
5 elk hair caddis
6 wooly bugger
7 Grass hopper
8 ***** creek nymph
9 red chironmid
10 Adams Parachute
11 Prince Nymph
12 Damsel fly

[OPENHOLE]

Top 12:
1 Adams
2 Wooley Bugger, bead head, weighted
3 Deer hair spun caddis
4 Hares Ear
5 Elk Hair Caddis
6 Prince Nymph
7 Muddler Minow
8 BWO
9 Pale Evening Dun
10 Sam Juan Worm
11 Pheasant Tail
12 Zair Spook=;