The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

Hello,

Since this is my first post, I felt a little introduction may be in order.

I am currently easing out of my greenhorn status as a fly fisherman. I have read books like the Curtis Creek Manifesto, "Nymphing" by Gary Borger and watched several casting videos and talked with some great guys at the local fly shop. I am not new to the world of fishing, I grew up fishing in the Pacific Ocean, once I moved closer to Chico, I got heavily into fresh water fishing, bass, salmon, etc. Some people call me a "bass-hole", whatever floats your boat However, like everything else, practice is the only way to get better.

I've recently made a couple trips to some good areas, I had a few strikes but no takers. My question to you fellow NCFFB'ers is, what are 5 or 6 go-to fly's I should have in my fly box?

I'm only looking for a general understanding of what to use and when when trout fishing in some local waters.

Cheers.

You could try searching the archives. Been discussed before but welcome abord.


BHPT
BHGRHE
Birds Nest
Price nymph
Elk Hair Caddis
Adams

Sizes 12-16 some in 18-20

Tight Lines

Jet

In no particular order of importance:

Dries:

Parachute Adams
EC Caddis
Elk Hair Caddis
PMD
BWO

Nymphs:

Pheasant tail
Caddis poopah
AP nymph
Birds nest
Copper John
Prince nymph

In various sizes of each--smaller is usually better, #14 to #18

Ask at your local fly shop.

Good luck,
El Rey

All the flies posted look good to me, and I think El Rey's advice regarding asking at a local fly shop is right on the mark. Where you are, time of year, where you're fishing, all of that is going to influence the flies to have in your box at a particular time. Some of my personal favorites, though, are royal trude, parachute adams, stimulators, royal wulff, good general attractor patterns.

Agree with the above and would add some Wooley Buggers from #14 to #8 to round out the bunch. A few regular streamers wouldn't hurt either. Welcome to the adiction.

well..El Ray Hit the basic flies you need, for trout fishing.

If you are close to chico then think about the Chico Area Fly fishiers. They have monthly fishouts where other club members will help you out. They have monthly fly tying sessions. Every so often they have a "spring tuneup" and go over knots, reading water, casting etc.

for $25 for a family membership, it is money well spent.

Paul

I agree with everything everyone has said, good advice and good flies.

I would suggest going into Chico Fly Shop and talking to Larry or John (cool guys, they're the owners - tell them Josh with the deep voice that used to live up there sent you). Let them know a couple of the main rivers you will be fishing over the next month or two and ask them to give you an idea of some go to flies and some good attractor patterns.

I suggest this method because as you can see from the previous posts there are probably 5 or 6 go to flies but vary by river (to a point), definately by season, and by size; among other factors like time of day. This will give you a good start on your boxes, set you up for the rivers you are most interested in and will be a good starting point.

Good luck and have fun!

dryflychico (aka Josh)

Basically, what ever you have confidence in. I feel like people get way to picky over secific patterns. Its the presentation that makes the difference. That said you are going to see the same fly listed over and over in this thread so those should be good flies to try.

Two rules for getting going:

Only fish dries when you see risers. YES, you can catch feesh on dries at other times but the odds are against you. Eception being small cricks.

Second, add more split shot when nymphing. I rarely fish with less than a BB, and most often fish with 2 BBs. A rule of thumb, 1 BB per 4 feet of water. That of course depends on the flow rate. Other half of this is to make sure you get a nice upstream mend in when using an indicator. No matter how much weight you throw if the indicator doesn't start upstream of your flies they will never get down. I'm sure you've read it, but its true if you aren't losing flies then you aren't fishing. Seriously expect to lose 3 flies per hour to the bottom.(you can reduce that number by pulling upstream on bottom hooked flies)

That said here are the flies I get %90 of my feesh on:

Mercer Micro-may in olive or black #16-20
Prince Nymph with gold bead #12-16 (hate to say it but it just works)
Hares ear #14-18 (me likes a black bead head ifn ya can find em)
Golden stones #10-12
Midge in cream or black #18-20


Dries:
E/C Caddis #14-18 (My #1 dry, way outfishes the EHC) see ralph cutters website for details
Parachute Adams #12-18 all you need for mayflies
Stimulator#6-12 makes an awesome dry/dropper fly for small waters and gets feesh almost anywhere


And thats it. Spend more time focusing on how you feesh the flies than what flies you are feeshing.

Good luck and be sure to post reports no matter how many fish you catch. we were all there and love to hear the new found joy.