Simple Flies Box

[Gavin]

The celery fly is a good one. Tiny black caddis can be good opening day. Bennet is one of the few places where you get a significant hatch in MO. Right now I’d be fishing a Madame X size 8 or 6 mostly. Black or with brown/black body and tan wing. Need to wind some, heading to the Current for Troutstock next weekend. See ya there, or not. Will probably day float Saturday. Walk in & hot spot Sunday Am.

[tjm]

celery fly googles out to be either a moth or fruit fly

[Gavin]

It’s tiny, like FW said. His tell all post is one you should save.

[tjm]

47 minutes ago, Gavin said:

It’s tiny, like FW said. His tell all post is one you should save.

I'd just loose the bookmark or folder, I'm probably too old to learn new flies, but I'm still curious. Do you tie those with upright divided flank wings or use slips for the wings?

edit: if I ever intended to fish BSSP again I print off FW's post and tuck into a tying book on the desk. But at this stage of life I doubt I'll ever find a reason to go back there, if I'm that far from home there are places I haven't been to yet.

[fishinwrench]

These easy little drys do Celery fly duty just fine.  The sucky part is that you're fishing with 7x......and I hate 7x because I refuse to own a 2 or 3wt. outfit.    A 5wt. is as light as I go. 

These are on #22.  The actual insect is even smaller.....like a 26 !  😳

But a sparsely tied 22 will get bit most times IF YOU PRESENT IT RIGHT.  

The little ice-dub/deer hair number on the right is a dead ringer.  That's the one I always try first. And just about anyone can tie 20 of them in 30 minutes.

[tjm]

59 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

The little ice-dub/deer hair number on the right is a dead ringer. 

Those flies may get bigger down here in the south, I tie very nearly (I may have used Caribou)  the same thing on #14 & #16  for RRSP.  I'm going to wing some with white calf tail to see if that works, I think I can see white better through the cataracts.

 

59 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

 And just about anyone can tie 20 of them in 30 minutes.

Not me my attention wanders after 5-6 of any pattern, those would be having marabou or goat hair after 20 minutes.

[fishinwrench]

4 hours ago, tjm said:

I'm going to wing some with white calf tail to see if that works, I think I can see white better through the cataracts

Calf tail will probably sink like a rock after one fish.  CDC works ok if you have one of those mushroom pad things to refresh it.   With deer hair all you have to do is mash it with your shirt sleeve a couple times, blow on it, and it's ready to go again. 

I can't SEE IT past 20-25 feet...... but I know generally where it is, and I just set the hook if a fish rises anywhere in that vicinity.

[tjm]

I have a piece of chamois leather on a zinger on my vest that does a pretty fine job of drying soggy flies, but I often just fish them wet. I tell the trout they are stillborn or cripples.

I might just use some off white snowshoe foot, I haven't used calf in years and can't remember why I bought it, but it is a nice shade of white.. The carabou is more visible than deer but it is also more fragile , I think. 

[mic]

On 10/8/2022 at 10:38 AM, tjm said:

So do y'all define Bennett Spring as a "spring creek" or a free stone stream" ? Have any of you  seen a huge hatch on an Ozark creek?

Bennett Spring is only the fourth biggest spring in the state, but it pumps out, on average, 100 million gallons a day.  I think but am not sure, Montauk and the river it feeds, the Current, is really a collection of springs... at least from what this layman sees.  Meramec Spring (also 100mg a day) feeds the trout park there, but one cannot fish the area of the springs.  At Bennett it is common to see people standing around it wadder deep fishing over it.  You can actually get a feel for the size of it from this video of divers exploring the entrance. 

 

[mic]

On 10/8/2022 at 12:34 PM, fishinwrench said:

It's a "trout park technique" for recent stockers.   The outlandish colors are attention grabbers.  Swing it, twitch it, strip it, or just let it hang in the current.....the biggest ding-a-ling in the pool will usually take a swipe at it.   😅 

If you were fishing with ME, I would urge you to use your trout park time to hone your real-world skills.... instead of trying to bring 50-100 fish to hand.  🙂

That's funny, as that is what I do.  Since Montauk and Bennett are 3 and 3.5 hours away... I mentally build a check list of things I want to try.  This week it was these flies and a reach cast.