Do You Tie and Test or Tie What You Use

[mic]

I'm in an all day planning meeting and trying to focus, but its not working, LOL.  So here is the question:

• Do you like to find new patterns, tie them, and go test them out?
• Do you always use the same set of flies and just tie what you need?  

The Ozarks are a day trip for me, but I like to try new things.  So, I'll spend a couple hours trying new stuff and old favorites the rest of the time.  If you are local to the trout water and want to try out new patterns for me, drop me an IM.  If you don't tie, don't have to have pitch perfect flies, and want some flies in exchange for hooks and weights, drop me an IM.

 

[feather n fin]

I enjoy tying variations of patterns and just making them up using different material choices.

I don't always use the same flies, but I do have go to flies that I have confidence in.

[BilletHead]

            I try tying various new to me patterns every year and really have not had that did not work. There are tried and true things in my fly box that are staples to tie up and fill boxes every year also. We are 90 percent warmwater fisherman and fisherwoman in the BilletHead household. If we were closer to a cold-water area that percentage would change because we would fill in days with that.

[mic]

1 hour ago, feather n fin said:

I enjoy tying variations of patterns and just making them up using different material choices.

I don't always use the same flies, but I do have go to flies that I have confidence in.

I checked out your blog in the link you have below your post.  First, very good looking dogs.  Two, did you try that 3 weight yet; looks like fun.  Three and back to the topic, have you fished that trout blues fly yet? It looks fishy.

[feather n fin]

47 minutes ago, mic said:

I checked out your blog in the link you have below your post.  First, very good looking dogs.  Two, did you try that 3 weight yet; looks like fun.  Three and back to the topic, have you fished that trout blues fly yet? It looks fishy.

The two setters in the header have passed on, but I don't have the heart to change. Max, the blue belton is the Tri-colored setter Tucker's cousin. Max is four now and mentioned a number of times in the blog.

Yes--I have fished the new 3 wt thrice and I love it. It behaves just as I wanted. Casts like a dream and water loads fantastic while laying out a fly real soft-like. It is S-Glass and built for a soft action, so because it water loads so nicely, roll casting in tight spots is slick.

LOL--I haven't fished the Trout Blues fly yet, but I also have high hopes.

[mic]

3 minutes ago, feather n fin said:

The two setters in the header have passed on, but I don't have the heart to change. Max, the blue belton is the Tri-colored setter Tucker's cousin. Max is four now and mentioned a number of times in the blog.

Yes--I have fished the new 3 wt thrice and I love it. It behaves just as I wanted. Casts like a dream and water loads fantastic while laying out a fly real soft-like. It is S-Glass and built for a soft action, so because it water loads so nicely, roll casting in tight spots is slick.

LOL--I haven't fished the Trout Blues fly yet, but I also have high hopes.

Losing great dogs is tough, but you probably have a ton of great memories.  The rod sounds like a lot of fun.  Let me know how the fly works.  

[feather n fin]

1 minute ago, mic said:

Losing great dogs is tough, but you probably have a ton of great memories.  The rod sounds like a lot of fun.  Let me know how the fly works.  

Yup---I wrote tributes to both Tucker and Bromley in that blog. We love our dogs as family. They give so much and ask so little.

I will let you know. I took on a design project for an architect, so it may be some days--depending.

Semi-retirement is like a yo-yo. First up then down and then down again.

[tjm]

 I  stay mostly with three styles, palmer, variant, and soft hackles for trout,  colors and materials change on a whim. 

[netboy]

I just tie what is working for the time of year. Caddis dries and green cracklebacks in the spring, sulphur dries and yellow cracklebacks in the summer, eggs in the fall/winter and midges and scuds all year long.  

Here is a decent brown that took an egg this morning at Rim Shoals...

 

[Flysmallie]

For trout I only tie what I need to get by. I rarely target them outside of C&R season at Roaring River.

I tie a lot of different stuff for warmwater, and tie some newer patterns that I see sometimes, and then some things I just dream up. But when it comes to actually fishing I just stick with the few that I always use.