Discovering New Fly Patterns
It’s usually around the beginning of the year when I start cleaning out my fly boxes. I spend most of my time sorting through my striped bass and spotted bass fly boxes. I would mention my trout boxes, but guiding with a motorized boat and running a trolling motor, instead of using oars, has significantly reduced the wear and tear on those. Plus, trout boxes can be endlessly filled and stuffed into the corners of boat bags or packs until you need a larger bag or pack, and then the process starts all over again.
Most of the time, sorting through fly boxes involves pulling out old flies that are beat up or patterns that didn’t perform as they should have, making room for more effective flies or new attempts at something that might work. It’s this “something that might work” category of flies that I want to focus on here, rather than the ones that didn’t pan out and end up in the ziplock bag I use for flies after a client has caught more fish than they need or lost more flies than is acceptable.
I’d like to say I design new flies each year—or at least try to—but in reality, any new fly is inspired by an old one or a pattern I saw online. I love discovering new patterns, and to grow as anglers, it’s necessary for us to explore new flies. Lord knows there are those who fish the same fly or flies every year and swear that’s all you need. I am not that person, and I encourage you, the reader, not to be that person either.
I have spent the better part of my life chasing fish for fun and profit (as a guide), and fish do become wise to our flies. Sure, every year in the spring, they will likely eat the same fly they did last spring—fish have short-term memory, after all—and they are usually very hungry in the spring. I mean, I eat all sorts of things I shouldn’t when I’m really hungry. Stopping for an XL Coke, XL fries, and a double-double is not usually a choice I feel good about half an hour later. I learned to avoid that after the third or fourth week of the travel sports season—just as most fish do after a few weeks of being fished over.
The beauty of the current state of fly fishing is that “new fly” inspiration is just a flick of our fingers away, thanks to apps on our phones. The internet, social media, and YouTube provide instant connection and inspiration from fly tiers and designers around the world. Some of my best ideas for patterns, tweaks to existing patterns, or entirely new patterns have come from looking beyond my local fly shops, guide buddies, and fellow anglers. In fact, some of the most game-changing ideas in my experience have even come from exploring outside my usual species or water types. For example, some of my best striped bass fly ideas have originated from musky and jungle-style flies, while some of my best spotted bass ideas have come not from flies at all, but from the baits and rigging approaches used by conventional gear anglers.
If you’re a trout angler, look at what trout anglers are doing in another region of the country. If you live in the Rockies, check out what California anglers are doing, and vice versa. Or explore what anglers in Europe are doing. Yes, we all know about Euro nymphing and the flies associated with it, but seek out tiers who actually live in Europe—not just Americans providing their take on what European anglers are doing.
One of the greatest evolutions in my fly tying and fishing came from a trip to the Missouri River in the early 2000s. This was before fly tiers had truly discovered social media and YouTube. I fished the PMD hatch on the Missouri and discovered the captive dun by Rene Harrop. I brought this fly back to the Lower Yuba, and it was a game-changer during the spring PMD hatch, where fish can be feeding in gin-clear flats on size 16-18 emergers. This led me down a whole new path into Harrop’s flies, materials, and theories on fishing mayfly hatches, which literally changed my entire approach to tying and fishing on the Lower Yuba River.
As we head into winter, I encourage all fly tiers and anglers to seek out new patterns. Use the search feature on YouTube and Instagram to find new tiers and patterns that might work in our local waters. If you're a trout angler, many of our hatches are very similar to those throughout the lower 48 states. While the specific color, size, and timing of a hatch may change, the essence of a PMD pattern or Golden Stonefly nymph usually does not. If you’re a bass angler, delve into the conventional world and explore what’s working for them, why it’s effective, and how they’re presenting it. Furthermore, look into how tiers are developing patterns for other regions of the country where largemouth or smallmouth bass are the primary game fish.
You never know what you might discover out there—maybe your next favorite pattern or something that will help fill up that ziplock bag next winter.
Simple search on Instagram turns up all sorts of inspiration!
Simple YouTube search provides great Youtube shorts for inspiration!