Here’s another great how-to video in a new series from Arizona Game and Fish and former Orvis Fishing Manager Cinda Howard, who now runs Fly Fish Arizona and Beyond. In this episode, Cinda shows the 12 patterns you need to catch trout pretty much anywhere, and why these flies perform so well. Her selections include dries, nymphs, and streamers, and the main focus is on generalist patterns, rather than exact imitations. If you want to carry just one box, these patterns will do the trick.
Here’s the list:
Dry Flies
1. Grasshopper
2. Ant
3. Caddisfly
4. Parachute Adams
5. PMX
Nymphs
6. Prince Nymph
7. Copper John
8. Hare’s Ear Nymph
9. Pheasant Tail Nymph
10. Zebra Midge
Streamers
11. Woolly Bugger
12. Simi Seal Leech
Nice piece
Great selection. I have a great deal of confidence in the Semi Seal leach and tie it with one clear and one red glass bead (instead of a brass or tungsten bead). I have caught no fewer than two dozen species of fish with that fly alone.
I feel this presentation is very helpful, especially to newcomers. As one who taught himself to flyfish beginning in the early 70’s, the ‘matching the hatch’ mindset which was dogmatic at the time, looking back, made it more difficult than it needed to be. Over the yrs I’ve evolved into a more generalist attitude, and it’s just as effective, and more fun.
We caught many dozens of trout on the white silver-headed wolly bugger this summer. Fish On!
There is one missing. When working the High Sierra Lakes in California I find the MOST effective fly is the “California Mosquito” no larger than size 12.
Agree but in the Adirondacks, finding the isonychia dry seems to work all the time