Warmwater Fly Recommendations

[Jarrod Hills]

I've a good selection of nymphs, wet and dry flies for trout but absolutely nothing for bigger, warm water fish. I'd like to start up a box of stuff that will work for fish in the rivers around here. What do you suggest I start the collection with? What are your essential flies?

[Jeffrey Silvan]

Michael had some great recommendations, and it's tough to really expand much on his recommendations... but I will anyway. I always have a large variety of sizes and colors, which can be good and bad. I can definitely match whatever the fish are biting, but more flies means greater urge to switch flies constantly.

Additional recommendation: 

Dragonfly nymph. I tend to have lower productivity on these for bass simply because the sunfish are always all over it, but it's the fly that seems to get the most stubborn bass to bite for me when nothing else will.

Expansion on Michael's recommendations:

Clousers - They will catch nearly any species of fish in nearly any body of water - salt or fresh. As Michael mentioned, chartreuse/white is good, but I also often use olive or brown and white. I've also heard a grey/white works well in this area, but I've only fished it once or twice. Olive/white is the best combo I've used on the Shenandoah for smallies.

Woolly buggers - I have a bunch of colors, but usually stick to all black or all olive, with the occasional white or brown or some combo of all the above. 

Crayfish - Never used Skip's Dad, but I like the look of it. Simple, realistic (enough), and nothing fancy. The biggest challenge I have is some of the more realistic looking patters have claws that can flop around... which is great, but leads to the claws getting tangled around the hook.

Poppers - I usually stick with the Boogle Bugs for the sole reason that I live across from Orvis in Clarendon and that's what they sell. And that they work great helps too. I probably have about 30 on me at all times in lots of colors and sizes (I like being prepared!). The yellow ones seem to be the ticket around here for me, while blue works best for me on the Shenandoah and Rappahannock. 

I always have a few other patterns with me, but either rarely use them, or they're "specialized" to a river. E.g. a "magnum hogsucker" from Murray's Fly Shop is one of the most productive sub-surface smallmouth flies I've ever used on the Shenandoah, but never had any success with it around here.

On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 7:44 AM, Jarrod Hills <jmh...@gmail.com> wrote:

I've a good selection of nymphs, wet and dry flies for trout but absolutely nothing for bigger, warm water fish. I'd like to start up a box of stuff that will work for fish in the rivers around here. What do you suggest I start the collection with? What are your essential flies?

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[Aaron O]

What I will add this this is the hook sizes. Your looking at a range of size 1 to size 6 when it comes to streamers and down to a size 14 for nymphs. I'm sure others will make other size suggestions but that is what I have been using locally. I have also copied a short list of suggested flies from the Orvis fishing report for the Potomac. They will give good information on what is happening locally and what you may want to grind with you when fishing here. Its work checking out the website. I would also give one of our local fly shops ( Urban Angler or an Orvis store a call). I know the crews in all those store are very knowledgeable with the area and can be a big help.

 

The short list is as follows:

Surf Candy		Blue/White, Chart./W		6 - 1/0
Boogle Bugs (Poppers/sliders)		All Colors		6-2
Frogs and Mice (Snakeheads/Bass)		Natural colors		2
Turpin's Messy Minnow		Silver/Black, Gold/Black		4-6

 

The last thing I would say is not to forget about the Shad run that will come towards the end of March. Tie or buy a bunch of shad darts with a sinking line and have a blast. Just make sure to catch and release them as there is a moritorium on Shad.

 

 

Aaron

[TurbineBlade]

Agree with all the above ^^....little else to say really.    

I'm a huge soft hackle fan, and tie/use them quite a lot for bluegill around here.  You can catch virtually as many bluegill as you want on them some days, sometimes when other stuff isn't working too well.  You might already have some of those if you fish for trout.  

I'm looking forward to swinging them for trout this spring.  

Gene 

[Matthew Longley]

Gene, what kind of soft-hackles are you swinging around here?  And what size?

I tied up a few this weekend, first time I've ever tied them, never used them.  Variations of the partridge and yellow on size 10 heavy scuds hooks.

[Jarrod Hills]

Thanks for the suggestions. I tried a search but must not have been putting in the right string of words or something. 

What is a 'shad dart'? 

[Matthew Longley]

Rob SW gave a tutorial at the last beer tie, he might have some tying instructions he can share.  Here is the general idea: http://nsflyfishing.com/shadflies.html

Basically heavy bodied flies (around size 8) with short tails (shad tend to short-strike) in bright florescent colors.

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[Brendan]

pretty good list so far... after moving back here from the NW, i've occasionally started mixing in some brightly colored and flashy salmon flies when the fishing is slow or when i'm casting into fast water. They're not as reliable as some of the classic patterns already mentioned but they can sometimes help avoid a skunking. 

On Monday, February 18, 2013 9:41:48 AM UTC-5, Aaron O wrote:

[TurbineBlade]

Partridge and yellow on size #10 is a common one I tie too -- with yellow floss body and hackle tied "David Hughes" style, stem first....wrapped backward toward awaiting thread, with the thread wound through hackle for extra durability.  Maybe not necessary, but I'm getting to prefer this over tying in with the tip like most people do.  No biggie -- either way works great.  

Also partridge and orange in #10-14, pheasant and herl (herl body with copper wire), and a pheasant and red brassie (red wire brassie with a soft hackle essentially) works great on a little rapid 1/2" strip retrieve.  The brassie soft hackle I'm really starting to like when I need a fly to sink a little faster in moving or deeper water.  I don't really swing 'em -- just use them with movement like you would a tube jig on a spinning rod.  I intend to try them out in the same sizes in cold water (with the traditional wet fly swing and/or upstream presentation), maybe with a few #16s also for some of that "pink trash" on the Jackson or Passage, etc ;).    

Gene

BTW - this is just a type of fly I enjoy tying, fishing and looking at ;).  Plus I got a freezer full of rooster pheasant with some really pretty feathers that work great for soft hackles.  It probably isn't any better than anything else on a lot of days....maybe never.  That's cool.  

Gene

[Rob Snowhite]

Having grown up in the area and been fishing warm water my whole life, I've got a few favorites. In no particular order

• 1" long Clouser
• 4" long Clouser
  
• 4x long popsicle (catches the biggest channel cats)
  
• Rubber wormie
• Size 10 scud hook damsel nymph
• Slider (not a fan of poppers) BIG fan of the Boogle bugs. Jeff wasn't kidding about his collection. :jealous
• Hellgrammite
• 1" shad dart
  
• Any generic bead head nymph with a flash back and soft hackle
• 3/4" foam hopper

Thats what I'll carry with me on an average day depending on the species. Today I fished wormies, egg sucking leeches, eggs, and a flash back hares ear. The worm was the only thing that moved fish. The damsel is by far the greatest producer of fish be it size, quantity, or diversity.

[Richard Lin]

I just tied these shad flies over weekend and get ready for Shad run in March! They are Davala's version - see attached file! I might try different version when I am having fun!

 

Richard

[Mike Scully]

Everything above, but I would also throw in Shenk's White Streamer in 4 or 6. These did well last season with the smallies.

Another one I favor is the Dahlberg Diver.

[namfos]

A variant of the bead head nymph that I find productive is the Aggravator Nymph - good for bluegills in 6 and smaller; good for smallmouth in 6 and larger. Recipes here: http://bit.ly/WLJWjx.

Also Gurglers, http://bit.ly/POM1su and Tap's Bugs, http://bit.ly/WLLNEZ

[Matthew Longley]

There's also something to be said about the excitement of fishing with hard poppers (like boogle bugs).  When bass hit those, they hit them HARD.  And right in front of your eyes.

On Wed, Feb 20, 2013 at 2:48 PM, <michael.d...@gmail.com> wrote:

The largest bass I have hooked (note I did not say landed) on my 7# flyrod was using a floating popper that resembles a frog made by Bob Clouser.

See the link to the Clouser's EZ Sili Frog at the following web page:


http://www.clouserflyfishing.com/fresflies.html


I have purchased a number of Bob's flies for large and small mouth bass. So far, that popper has produced the best results in the late evening fished near shoreline vegetation using a slow retrieve/popping method.

The most SMB I have caught have been using Lefty's Deceiver streamer drifted slowly and deep in natural fish like colors with a bit of red flash

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lefty_Kreh#Creation_of_Lefty.27s_Deceiver

Good Luck,

Mike
Alexandria, VA

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[Greg Feder]

Walt's Poppers are great, and plenty fun for some top water action from bass and bluegills.  Plus, you can meet the man himself at the VA Fly Fishing Festival (at least in past years). 

 

http://www.breambugs.com/index.php?_a=category&cat_id=56

 

Here's an article by Beau Beasley on Virginia's Popper King:  http://www.chesapeake-angler.com/storyjuly06-VApoppingbug.htm

 

Cheers,

 

-- Greg

From: "michael.d...@gmail.com" <michael.d...@gmail.com>
To: tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2013 2:48 PM
Subject: {Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Re: Warmwater Fly Recommendations

The largest bass I have hooked (note I did not say landed) on my 7# flyrod was using a floating popper that resembles a frog made by Bob Clouser.

See the link to the Clouser's EZ Sili Frog at the following web page:


http://www.clouserflyfishing.com/fresflies.html


I have purchased a number of Bob's flies for large and small mouth bass. So far, that popper has produced the best results in the late evening fished near shoreline vegetation using a slow retrieve/popping method.

The most SMB I have caught have been using Lefty's Deceiver streamer drifted slowly and deep in natural fish like colors with a bit of red flash

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lefty_Kreh#Creation_of_Lefty.27s_Deceiver

Good Luck,

Mike
Alexandria, VA
--

http://www.tpfr.org/

[Mike Scully]

One more resource is my pinterest board. Any time I see a pattern or idea I like, I pin it.

http://pinterest.com/shakes74/fly-fishing/

I know pinterest is usually for chicks, but I find it helpful for keeping all the stuff I run across. I used to find myself searching for an article I saw months before and sometimes never finding it. Its no longer an issue.

[namfos]

Thanks for posting, Mike.  Similiarly, I use Evernote to capture patterns, pics, articles, etc, as opposed to being quite so "social" about it.

Mark