What Flies, Scuds, Nymphs, Etc Do Best For You?

[Greg]

My 2 best fly patterns are zebra midges and mohair leeches. Both at Taney and the parks. Zebras in various colors size 18 and 20. Mohairs in olive, black, and brown in sizes 10 and 12.

Other good flies for me are: Scuds, Y2K, crackleback, griffiths gnat.

Greg

[Snow Fly]

Bredman:

There you go with the art of Fly Fishing, in a very short period of time you already have three boxes full of flies ......The list will continue to grow as you grow in the sport. Heck 10 rods, 6 reels and an assortment of trinkets later you will be heading west, then dream of a trip to one of the mecca's of Fly Fishing. Good Luck and may you rip many lips. I too can meet for a fishing trip any time you wish....I know No Luck is always up for a trip..............

[jdmidwest]

C'mon, JD... Admit it... you went home and tied a cigarette butt fly that afternoon didn't ya....

Well, as a matter of fact I thought about it for a while, then tyed on something white. I think it was marlboro, lucky it was only a single, and not a hatch, so I could not net one for inspection.

[Flysmallie]

Well, as a matter of fact I thought about it for a while, then tyed on something white. I think it was marlboro, lucky it was only a single, and not a hatch, so I could not net one for inspection.

Here ya go jd!

[Grant Miller]

For the Ozarks, I have always done well on the Red Squirrel nymph in sizes 14-18 (both regular and bead heads), Olive Wooly Bugger sizes 6 & 8, Pheasant Tail nymph 14-20, midge pupa 20-26 (various patterns), and I love soft hackles of various colors sizes 14-18, especially bead heads. I'm not much of a dry fly person, so I just pick up a few of whatever the locals tell me is working.

[jjtroutbum]

elk hair caddis and olive woolly buggers. If you have those you can catch fish in Missouri.

[BredMan]

Wow, this list keeps growing but there are many similarities. Now if a few of you retailer folks could put together a nice assortment based on what is being presented in a nice case and call it the "Ozark Rivers Fly Kit" or something ingenious as that, I would definitely buy it. And why not if it has everything I would need. Looks like a opportunity without a whole lot of overhead considering most local sellers have what has been mentioned by the individual piece anyway. Regardless I have started my list and will go from that angle. Keep the suggestions coming!

[Greg]

Your next obsession will be fly tying if you are anything like me. I got into tying to "save money". HaHa. I don't think I've saved a thing and in fact I'm sure I spend more $$ on fly tying stuff than if I just bought the flies. I do enjoy tying though.

Greg

[Al Agnew]

I don't fish the trout parks, preferring to fish the rivers instead. But I'm somewhat of a minimalist when it comes to nymphs and streamers. I carry relatively few patterns in a couple of different sizes, and usually do okay on them.

Nymphs

grayish scuds, size 14-16

Hare's Ears--I like the flashback hare's ears but the plain ones or the beadhead ones work about as well, size 12 and 16

Prince Nymphs, size 12-16

Copper Johns, size 14-18

Soft Hackles, size 10-14

I have a big fly box crammed full of various nymphs that I've acquired over the years in visits to other locales--you know, you go into the local fly shop and buy whatever they tell you is working (or better yet, buy whatever it is that there's only a few left in the bin--that is usually a good indicator of what's working). And I often use some of them when the spirit moves me. But most of the time I'll be using one or two of those few above, and as long as they are presented well they catch fish.

Streamers

I figure they only imitate two or three things--a big aquatic bug, a crawdad, or a small fish. So I tie my own both for smallmouths and trout, and they all imitate either minnows or crustaceans. If they are light colored with a little flashabou they imitate minnows, if dark colored the bottom organisms. It's a lot more in how you fish them than it is exactly what they look like. I've seen so many beautiful crayfish imitations that were basically impossible to make them MOVE like a crayfish. If you are buying them, just get a bunch of Wooly Buggers in various sizes and colors, especially black, olive, brown, and white.

With dry flies it seems like you have to be a lot more careful about matching the hatch, so you need more sizes and shapes to match the various flying floating insects. But with the nymphs and streamers, you oughta be able to catch fish regularly on relatively few patterns.

At least that's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it! Doesn't mean I still don't drop some big bills at the fly shop regularly with only those little plastic cups full of flies to show for it--it's an addiction.

[Gavin]

I wont go anywhere w/o some mohair leaches, wooly buggers, elk hair caddis, hares ear nyphs, prince nymphs, pheasant tail nymphs, zebra midges, black rubber leg stones, eggs, and some worms. Add some location and time specific flies to that list and you should catch fish almost anywhere.