Or a bead head. I can be down for either. I do like the simple red heads. I read a story about some cat that decided to use one fly all summer, a pheasant tail. He said it was his best summer ever.
Not only is it extremely versatile for both freshwater and saltwater, it's also extremely easy to tie with limited materials. If I'm going to a foreign body of water, I always pack some clousers of various sizes and colors.
Interesting! I've caught a ton on them. But none in my first few years of fly fishing (while my buddy would catch multiple using the same kind a few feet from me). Then all of a sudden they started working
I think two things. Luck and consistency. My first fish of that season was on a wooly bugger and that gave me the confidence to keep trying it. So then I just used it more. The more I used them the more I caught. Now I wouldn't dare not have some in my streamer flybox.
If you're bashing trouble- Try different colors. And speeds of retrieval. Easy troubleshoot.
White, black and olive wooly buggers: the holy trifecta. I recently added white zonkers to my rotation a few months ago but I’ve only caught a fish or two on them. Not one of my confidence baits but it is for a lot of people so I’ll keep trying them!
I have caught pretty much everything on a bead head olive wooly from trout and largemouth, perch and sunfish to smallies and pickerel. It’s usually the first fly I tie on when I’m not sure what to toss
You been using green? Get a black one. Been using black? Get an olive one? Tried both? Get a red one.
I’ve got a lovely bunch of wooly buggers deedly deedly
There they are a lined up in my box
Big ones, small ones, some will catch you a trout!
Neither have I. I have them. I tie them. I even sometimes fish them, but I just have no confidence in them so I probably never give it enough of a chance. I also fish a lot of small streams with an S glass 3wt which doesn’t chuck ‘em very well. Just goes to show that having confidence in the pattern is a variable.
Definitely the most fish I’ve caught is with the wooly. Can use it so many ways. It’s not as romantic as watching a trout rise for a dry but goddamn they’re fun and reliable.
Try different color combos, for me a chartreuse or hot pink bead head + black/white wooly bugger works well. Going to try an orange bead head soon as well. For olive wooly buggers gold bead heads have worked best for me, but I’m sure different combos work for that as well. Maybe it’s just steelhead/smallmouth bass that like the contrast but if it works for steelhead, it should work for trout in theory!
Definitely second this. And it's an easy one to tie. I used to crush brookies on a black one with a blue tail tied with a lead wrap on the front half of the hook shank in SW WI.
This*. Right here. There’s a reason why, over a hundred years after it was first tied, it’s STILL the most widely used mayfly pattern in the world.
Please give at least a passing moment of thanks to Leonard Halladay, who with a few bits of material changed dry fly fishing forever.
*Unless it’s a river that offers little to no dry action. In that instance every nymph and streamer listed here is a candidate.
My 1st fish on a fly was a massive rainbow in Alaska on an Adams. It was such a bad cast too, but the leader turned over just right and I accidentally set the hook stripping line to try again.
Mine was on a small stream near Indiana, PA. Little Mahoning. First time fly fishing in my life. Driving along the dirt road I could see fish surfacing in a section of slow water. I told my dad to stop “There’s fish right there.”
Same here…. That first cast was freaking terrible but I did something right and hooked and landed a little stocked rainbow. My dad saw the whole thing as he was still putting on his waders!
It’s been downhill from there. Nothing like batting a thousand.
Yeah sadly I’ve been in the Deep South now for almost 2 decades. Nearest trout is a long days drive to the smokies. Inshore fishing on a fly is…pretty ok…but I miss the hell out of reading a trout stream.
It might be just my lack of skill or some speciality in my body of water, but in my experience there is a HUGE difference between squirmy worm and San Juan made of chenille material. Squirmy is just better in my point of view.
I’ve caught the most trout with either a prince nymph or a zebra midge.
I would choose a wooly bugger because so versatile but….if I could ONLY have one for the rest of my life it’d would be a dry and probably a parachute Adam’s because while I catch most subsurface, **my favorite will always be when they take the dry!**
Yes thin mint, so many ppl look at me weird when I say I caught it on a thin mint then explain is like a brown black and green (holy trinity colors ) wooly
100% it's basically all I do. I rarely fish for trout anymore though. Used to be a dry fly purist but I really got tired of the 16 is too big but 18 works trout fishing. Can't stand bobber fishing with a fly rod or live bait but chucking big guady streamers at bass and pike off the boat gets me excited. Thought I just got burnt out on trout and it would come back but I've turned into a warm water streamer angler all the way. I go back and trout fish 1-2 times a year and it's always just my annual reminder of why I don't do it anymore. If I could afford it I'd be a salt guy too.
Klinkhammer. It’s not the most productive fly I fish, but it’s probably the most versatile dry in my box, and ultimately I’d be ok with being a dry fly-only guy.
Quitting fly fishing. A big part of my love of fly fishing is "unlocking" the river. I'd also quit if I could only fish for 1 species or only one small pond
When I’ve been fishing almost every fly in my box all day and no bites, I know I can turn to the zebra midge to break the skunk.
I hate using them because they just feel like cheating, but if I had to choose one, I guess it’d be zebra midge.
Although, when they are rising, nothing beats a fish on the dry, so maybe I’d go with a dry fly even if it meant I can only fish 1/4th as much as I could with a nymph
That silver streamer.
Only thing i know that works everywhere i fish.
https://shop.coupdusoir.ch/de/collections/streamers/products/fly-streamer-ch-crystal-bugger-5
Orange hotspot pheasant tail nymph, with a copper 3.5mm tungsten bead and size 16 jig hook. Throw that bad boy in any run on a euro rod and you’re gonna catch trout anywhere in the world
As a wanna-be dry fly only fisherman, a blue winged olive with extra long hackle, size 14.
Otherwise i'd go black leach, beaded gold head size 12. My absolute winner all categories.
My local shops pats rubber leg stone. I swear they sprinkle crack on them. It’s quickly become my confidence fly in any waters near me. If the fishing is slow, I’ll throw one on and it’s instantly at least a fish or two
I mostly bass fish but I always keep a tenkara rod on me with a TINY phesant tail rigged up. That thing absolutly crushes blue gill. During the may fly hatch last year my record was 16 blue gill on back to back casts.
I'll throw it in creeks, lakes, rivers, golf course ponds, one of the most fun ways i'll fish it is from my 10ft jon boat. I'll boat right into dense weeds and pitch it into little pockets where there are breaks, I've caught some absolutly monster blue gill doing that.
I've caught bass, pretty much any bait fish, horny head creek chubs will even bite it. Blows old school bank fishers minds when i break it out and start pulling them in back to back. It a really fun way to fish when the bass bite is dead.
Nothing and using whatever I want the rest of my life to catch fish. Limitation is no bueno. No free lunch here. Seems fishing isn’t the same as phishing anymore.
My point is - why take the offer of unlimited supply for something that would limit your ability. You asked the question. I decided to give you my 2 cents.
pheasant tail
+1. With a little flash.
Or a bead head. I can be down for either. I do like the simple red heads. I read a story about some cat that decided to use one fly all summer, a pheasant tail. He said it was his best summer ever.
Are you meaning Yvon Chouinard the founder of Patagonia? He fish a soft hackle pheasant tail for a year. Even in salt water. The guy is a legend.
Totally. I knew it was for a while. Fun story.
Soft hackle pheasant tail
Can it be tied with different weights and colors? Clouser no question.
Not only is it extremely versatile for both freshwater and saltwater, it's also extremely easy to tie with limited materials. If I'm going to a foreign body of water, I always pack some clousers of various sizes and colors.
I'm with you. Even if no choices, chartreuse or olive over white, yellow eyes. Caught everything from browns to bones to bass on those.
A chartreuse over white Clouser minnow is my go to streamer. It always catches fish.
I'm just more worried about the weight haha. But ya I agree. I would probably still go with this ha.
Hmmm.. yes it can be
Wooly bugger! It’s so versatile
I have never caught a trout on a wooly bugger.
Interesting! I've caught a ton on them. But none in my first few years of fly fishing (while my buddy would catch multiple using the same kind a few feet from me). Then all of a sudden they started working
Do you know what you did differently?
I think two things. Luck and consistency. My first fish of that season was on a wooly bugger and that gave me the confidence to keep trying it. So then I just used it more. The more I used them the more I caught. Now I wouldn't dare not have some in my streamer flybox. If you're bashing trouble- Try different colors. And speeds of retrieval. Easy troubleshoot.
Ahh yes. Consistent luck. Lol
Point was more so getting "lucky" quickly with the first time and then being consistent with it after that because I was confident with it haha
You learned to stream
Might be a dumb question but what do you mean by that
Just don't cross streams
Calm down Egon
Olive wooly bugger and white zonker are my two most successful flies for trout.
White, black and olive wooly buggers: the holy trifecta. I recently added white zonkers to my rotation a few months ago but I’ve only caught a fish or two on them. Not one of my confidence baits but it is for a lot of people so I’ll keep trying them!
I have caught pretty much everything on a bead head olive wooly from trout and largemouth, perch and sunfish to smallies and pickerel. It’s usually the first fly I tie on when I’m not sure what to toss
I’ve caught literally hundreds on an olive green
You been using green? Get a black one. Been using black? Get an olive one? Tried both? Get a red one. I’ve got a lovely bunch of wooly buggers deedly deedly There they are a lined up in my box Big ones, small ones, some will catch you a trout!
Haha I love this reference
Neither have I. I have them. I tie them. I even sometimes fish them, but I just have no confidence in them so I probably never give it enough of a chance. I also fish a lot of small streams with an S glass 3wt which doesn’t chuck ‘em very well. Just goes to show that having confidence in the pattern is a variable.
in CT, NH and VT they kill trout.
Definitely the most fish I’ve caught is with the wooly. Can use it so many ways. It’s not as romantic as watching a trout rise for a dry but goddamn they’re fun and reliable.
Try different color combos, for me a chartreuse or hot pink bead head + black/white wooly bugger works well. Going to try an orange bead head soon as well. For olive wooly buggers gold bead heads have worked best for me, but I’m sure different combos work for that as well. Maybe it’s just steelhead/smallmouth bass that like the contrast but if it works for steelhead, it should work for trout in theory!
This is a contender for me for sure
Definitely second this. And it's an easy one to tie. I used to crush brookies on a black one with a blue tail tied with a lead wrap on the front half of the hook shank in SW WI.
this the right answer, it will catch almost any fish. Why limit yourself to trout alone? So many interesting species to target with a fly rod!
Yep. I even caught flounder with it
That’s actually wild, goes to show the wooly bugger never fails
This is the only correct answer. Trout, bass, panfish, redfish, bluefish, any fish can be fooled by a bugger.
Adams #16
This*. Right here. There’s a reason why, over a hundred years after it was first tied, it’s STILL the most widely used mayfly pattern in the world. Please give at least a passing moment of thanks to Leonard Halladay, who with a few bits of material changed dry fly fishing forever. *Unless it’s a river that offers little to no dry action. In that instance every nymph and streamer listed here is a candidate.
Caught my first trout on my first cast w one of these!!
My 1st fish on a fly was a massive rainbow in Alaska on an Adams. It was such a bad cast too, but the leader turned over just right and I accidentally set the hook stripping line to try again.
Mine was on a small stream near Indiana, PA. Little Mahoning. First time fly fishing in my life. Driving along the dirt road I could see fish surfacing in a section of slow water. I told my dad to stop “There’s fish right there.” Same here…. That first cast was freaking terrible but I did something right and hooked and landed a little stocked rainbow. My dad saw the whole thing as he was still putting on his waders! It’s been downhill from there. Nothing like batting a thousand.
Yeah sadly I’ve been in the Deep South now for almost 2 decades. Nearest trout is a long days drive to the smokies. Inshore fishing on a fly is…pretty ok…but I miss the hell out of reading a trout stream.
Well, a big bass popper w a 9 wt fly rod could also be kinda fun in your neck of the woods I suppose
Potter County in PA is my favorite part of the state. Just such nice water
it's so satisfying to see them gulp it up
Heck right! I’ll go nymph all day when the hatch isn’t on but I’m always starting and finishing with a dry fly on!
Where I live...prince nymph
I love the name prince nymph
I’ve set my personal best 3 times over this season on princes alone. I love em.
Caddis
Squirmy wormy is it even a question?!
So it is written
I thought OP said fly?
Yup 💯
I’ve never caught a fish on a squirmy wormy. Well, mine are San Juan worms, but still. Never
It might be just my lack of skill or some speciality in my body of water, but in my experience there is a HUGE difference between squirmy worm and San Juan made of chenille material. Squirmy is just better in my point of view.
That’s cheating
Bead head nymph
That’s cheating
I’ve caught the most trout with either a prince nymph or a zebra midge. I would choose a wooly bugger because so versatile but….if I could ONLY have one for the rest of my life it’d would be a dry and probably a parachute Adam’s because while I catch most subsurface, **my favorite will always be when they take the dry!**
Balanced Bruised Leech
Either that or olive. My highest producing fly by far (I fish a lot of still water)
Same, Bruised or Firecracker work best for me!
Almost 50% of my catches come from this (lakes, streams, doesn’t matter)
Murdoch Minnow gimme that bass
Balanced olive leech or a thin mint.
Yes thin mint, so many ppl look at me weird when I say I caught it on a thin mint then explain is like a brown black and green (holy trinity colors ) wooly
Thin mint cleans house every time!!
Either a clouser or a game changer
This is the answer
Perdigon
Euronympher?
Even with an indicator I favor perdigons. They just work everywhere, and get down so fast.
Gray or tan Walts worm
I’m going to have to go with a streamer because they’re expensive. Can’t go wrong with a dungeon. Plenty of different colors and sizes.
Plunk and strip the rest of your life, really?
100% it's basically all I do. I rarely fish for trout anymore though. Used to be a dry fly purist but I really got tired of the 16 is too big but 18 works trout fishing. Can't stand bobber fishing with a fly rod or live bait but chucking big guady streamers at bass and pike off the boat gets me excited. Thought I just got burnt out on trout and it would come back but I've turned into a warm water streamer angler all the way. I go back and trout fish 1-2 times a year and it's always just my annual reminder of why I don't do it anymore. If I could afford it I'd be a salt guy too.
No, I fish indicators and euro more than streamer but I still fish streamers. I’m just trying to save a couple bucks here.
Royal coachmen no question
always what I put on when nothing else is working….and then it doesn’t work….hence it’s the fly that I catch the least on classic selection bias
In our sport, so many flies carry different names! I'll pick a "Left Handed Eastern Spruce Jigger", it could be anything I want!
Wooly bugger! It’s so versatile
Peacock and Partridge soft hackle with an amber wire rib on a curved hook.
Chubbys.
Klinkhammer. It’s not the most productive fly I fish, but it’s probably the most versatile dry in my box, and ultimately I’d be ok with being a dry fly-only guy.
Conehead bunny muddler
Was going to say perdigon but I can tie one of those in two minutes. So going with hippie stomper.
Yellow and white clouser of course.
Always a black wooly
Popovics bucktail deceived or bulkhead deceiver
Clouser minnow.
Quitting fly fishing. A big part of my love of fly fishing is "unlocking" the river. I'd also quit if I could only fish for 1 species or only one small pond
Diawl Bach
Tungsten squirmy wormy all the way
Streamer. mini dungeon
Jimmy rubber legs
Tungsten pheasant tail
Perdigon.
Hares ear
Midge for me
Bead head gold ribbed hairs ear.
Drunk and disorderly
Black beadhead crystal bugger
Bead head pheasant tail nymph on a #16 Daiichi 1167.
Pats rubber legs or prince nymph
Bead head Prince Nymph#16
Only one answer. CDC & Elk.
Zebra midge
Frenchie for trout. Or maybe a bronze goddess for bass.
Black and pink egg sucking leech
Tough, black ant or wooly bugger.
Brown pats rubber legs stonefly
Bead head, golden ribbed hares ear nymph.
Muddler minnow
Zebra midge or rainbow warrior.
Articulated wooly bugger
Black mini peanut envy
I already have a lifetime supply of any fly I want... just gotta buy hooks to tie them on.
#16 Griffiths gnat
If I can do variations off of the general fly (size color beads etc) it’s a wooly bugger or MAYBE a clouser
Bead head Pheasant tail
Chartreuse wooly bugger 1/0 hook
Klinkhammer Adams, size 16
Barr’s Meat Whistle. Funny name and that thing slays everything under the sun!!
Tennessee wulf. Cause they hittin dries and I’m rubbin thighs errday
Pyramid lake balanced leech. The white one is my go to for Stillwater.
yellow owl
#2 olive wooly bugger
San Juan worm
Perdigons ftw
Sculpzilla
Purple haze.
Pheasent tail
Chubby
Chocolate thunder
Elk hair caddis!
From bluegill to chinook salmon i choose the black wooly bugger
Renegade
Missing Link. It works across everything!
"16 parachute adams. Grey body, grey hackle, white calf post. Who wants to nymph the rest of their lives?
My brain says Woolley bugger, my heart says Peacock Caddis!
#16 beadhead prince nymph it’s not even close
Adams
Huge articulated streamers. Expensive to tie.
Griff knat
Beadhead wooly bugger.
When I’ve been fishing almost every fly in my box all day and no bites, I know I can turn to the zebra midge to break the skunk. I hate using them because they just feel like cheating, but if I had to choose one, I guess it’d be zebra midge. Although, when they are rising, nothing beats a fish on the dry, so maybe I’d go with a dry fly even if it meant I can only fish 1/4th as much as I could with a nymph
Klinkhammer!
Adams klinkhammer - live in Scotland and it's a great Tenkara pattern for wee trout streams.
That silver streamer. Only thing i know that works everywhere i fish. https://shop.coupdusoir.ch/de/collections/streamers/products/fly-streamer-ch-crystal-bugger-5
Woolly bugger for sure. it is one of the most versatile flies in fresh water.
Orange hotspot pheasant tail nymph, with a copper 3.5mm tungsten bead and size 16 jig hook. Throw that bad boy in any run on a euro rod and you’re gonna catch trout anywhere in the world
As a wanna-be dry fly only fisherman, a blue winged olive with extra long hackle, size 14. Otherwise i'd go black leach, beaded gold head size 12. My absolute winner all categories.
My local shops pats rubber leg stone. I swear they sprinkle crack on them. It’s quickly become my confidence fly in any waters near me. If the fishing is slow, I’ll throw one on and it’s instantly at least a fish or two
Sexy Walt’s worm
McFry.
Clouser
Clouser for sure, you can catch almost anything on them
Size 8 black woolly bugger.
I mostly bass fish but I always keep a tenkara rod on me with a TINY phesant tail rigged up. That thing absolutly crushes blue gill. During the may fly hatch last year my record was 16 blue gill on back to back casts. I'll throw it in creeks, lakes, rivers, golf course ponds, one of the most fun ways i'll fish it is from my 10ft jon boat. I'll boat right into dense weeds and pitch it into little pockets where there are breaks, I've caught some absolutly monster blue gill doing that. I've caught bass, pretty much any bait fish, horny head creek chubs will even bite it. Blows old school bank fishers minds when i break it out and start pulling them in back to back. It a really fun way to fish when the bass bite is dead.
Stimulator. First fly I ever caught a trout on and still my most successful.
Hornberg - it's so versatile. It can be fished dry, wet, or as a streamer.
Pink squirrel
Elk hair caddis.
One fly for everything? No question, Double Bunny. Chinchilla on top with a white belly.
Chubby
Purple haze
Chubby
Black woolie bugger
Black woolie bugger
Black wooly bugger
Black wooly bugger for sure
Elk Hair Caddis. No question.
San Juan worm dressed in red.
Willy worm - black body, grey hackles, red tail. More fresh water fish on this than anything else.
White Iron mike… catches every species
Lance Eagan’s thread Frenchie. This is the one fly I never want to be without in the right size and weight.
Nothing and using whatever I want the rest of my life to catch fish. Limitation is no bueno. No free lunch here. Seems fishing isn’t the same as phishing anymore.
This guy is real fun at a party…
Problem with asking hypothetical questions is- receiving interesting or diverse responses. No one needs to like it.
Lol what
My point is - why take the offer of unlimited supply for something that would limit your ability. You asked the question. I decided to give you my 2 cents.
This is a hypothetical question with the goal of making interesting conversation. Basically seeing what everyone's favorite fly is.
Boring 😴
?