So since iv started tying my mind runs mostly on caffine and internet access. I have seen many flys through the months and now im trying to remember what they were. Most cant be bought or if they can its for a hansome ransome. If you guys could add to my list of favorite flys everyone should tie and have in there box.

1. Doculator-as of latly they have been killing the fish
2. Briminator-smallmouth,largemouth and pearch (San Marcous)
3. Cats whiskers- killed when nothing else was touched (Brazos)
4. Gold ribed hares ear nymph
5. Prince nymph
6. Bitch creek nymph
7. Wolly buggers
8. San juan worm
9. glow bug
10 rubber leg bed head nymph

What else?

Clouser?

Copper John, scuds, caddis flies...Mickey Finn. This is just off the top of my head.

I never caught a thing yet on my Bitch Creek fly..it looked good when I bought it, but haven't caught a fish on it. I haven't used it lately, that may be why. I have only fished once in an entire month, which is very unlike me. I will try that one again. What did you catch on it by the way?

poppers & divers
zonker

I cannot believe I forgot to mention them...lack of sleep...hmmm...don't forget sliders too!

none of that trout junk. Mostly clousers, deceivers, sculpins, zonkers, woolly buggers and deer hair sliders

I'm with you, Scott...
Poppers, clousers, decievers, divers,wooly buggers, flies with spinner blades, blondes, assorted streamers, etc..

big flies catch big fish

cap spiders, hoppers, crease minnows, llano bugs, mylar minnows, crappie candy, micro jigs, deer hair bass bugs...

Yah I agree size matters but I tend to fish areas with limited large fish populations. I do have some flys for that though. The bitch creek nymphs are awsome I always get a small size and the bass and brim love them. Iv had success mostly on rivers with them or around structure near the shore line. Great info guys thanx.

rb...that is why I have not had success I guess...I fish lakes...if I had more access to a river via a BOAT, I guess I would catch the heck out of bass and bream with that fly..Bitch Creek. Maybe it is just a faster water type thing, or it could be the places I go that orange doesn't work too good.

You have got a nice list going. Maybe we should have one put on as a sticky thread to the fly fishing forum? Like 20 or 30 great flies for your box. All the newbies will ask anyways....might save us from repeating. I am still a newbie by the way...hehehe.

Perhaps some more top water? Poppers are fun, foam spiders etc.
Poppers are dirt cheap at Walmart and foam spiders are EEEZZZ to tie.

To mention a few that I figured someone whoud have mentioned before now partridge and yellow, Renegade, ghost minnows, Red Arse, elk hair caddis, Klod HoppersIn addition to a box full of foam spiders and cap spiders( yes they are that important!)

Also throw in a few Tarpon Toads. I have been tying them lately
and lots of other stuff eat them also.


Big Dale

Dale

I am concerned that Klod Hoppers or those Tarpon Toads might get beat up pretty bad by fish trying to eat them. How might one prevent a mean old fish from putting nasty tooth marks in one's newly tied flies? LOL

I think i might have to give this tien thing a shoot. Is it pricey to get started? im a huge noob or is it newb??? think i was at academy and they had a kit for like $40 had a vice and other stuff. Is that a good price? oh sorry i just jacked your thread. im going to hell.

Mike, you have a gift, keep it up my friend!

To be quite honest with you, it is expensive to get into, and then you still want more. It can be a big money drain if you let it, and if you just stick to a few flies that you use a lot, like foam spiders, it won't be too much. It is all those that LOOK INTERESTING that you want to tie, that add up. It is an addicting hobby.

newb stands for newbie

The first time I tried one of Dale's tarpon toads was at the pond behind Davis Library. I caught nine bass up to 3 1/2# on it. I've caught a number of other nice bass on that same fly and it still looks good. The guy ties great flies and the fish love them!

Dale's tarpon toads!
What materials do you make them out of?
I found a video and did not know what fabousi fiber was.
Thanks,
Steve

Robin: The beauty of both Klod Hoppers and Tarpon Toads is that they have cheap materials, well except for those grade 1 Whiting saddles that I use for the Klod Hoppers. and they are a lot of fun to tie. So when they get used up then you have an excuse to tie more.

I tie the Tarpon Toad on those cool Eagle Claw 60 degree bend jig hooks. You tie in a couple of marabou feathers for the tail and then stand them up with a few wraps of thread and then a veil of about three wraps of cross-cut rabbit strips and then do a head of plastic canvass yarn tied in Merkin style. Then add bead chain eyes in whatever size you want.

You can play with various size bead chain or lead eyes or plastic eyes depending on what you want for sink rates. You can also use Aunt Lydia's rug yarn or latch hook yarn if you want them to sink a little quicker instead of the plastic canvass yarn.

Tie them in any color you want. I started tying them in red and black cause I Are A Red Raider and down in the keys where the pattern first found acceptance anything black and red is Called The Black
Death, which I always found to be a very cool name.

The darned trash fish (otherwise known as bass) loved them. Then I started tying them in the old standby of chartreuse and white and you could not keep the bass off them. So I had to tie some in LSU colors for Cliff and they love them. I suspect they will do even better when LSU is again winning football games on Saturdays. Lately I have been tying some in grey and white to immitate shad colors thinking they should be great for stripers up on Lake Texoma. I guess I should tie a few in Maroon and White for Rob Woodruff.

You got to have fun with this stuff.

Big Dale

I need to tie up a few of those Dale, I like the idea of bass not being able to stay away!

As for the cost of tying flys, the joke going around about 15 years ago was that this guy had a brother who took up fly tying while in rehab and found that it was only somewhat more expensive than cocaine.

It is like any other hobby in that it can be very inexpensive to start, the trick is to not let it consume you where you buy everything in the way of materials because you might need it someday. Add materials when you need them to tie a particular pattern. For myself it seems like I have wasted thousands on very high priced chicken necks and I now seldom tie the dry flies that need them. Most of us that live around here find that we use more foam or deer hair to float our surface flies and both of these materials are very cheap. For bluegill bugs, you don't want to think of how much the hooks cost to use up a one buck sheet of foam.

Big Dale

We should get a sticky with the 25 best Texas flys that work every where. A box of flys you could go anywhere with and catch fish. We could build it around a 5 or 6 wt rod where most people start. I think it would be a great addition to this site. This coming form someone who has been here everyday for two months just to learn how little I know. HEHE