What are your go to flies?

[newsteelyman]

Just wondering what everyones goto patterns are. I have a steely trip comin' up and have yet to catch one. all the seasoned pro's say to use whatever you have confidence in, but having yet to catch one, how can I have confidence in a pattern? Here are my fav's for all types of fly fishing:
1) stillwaters- maroon seal bugger(wooly bugger w/seal fur body) and the black ice cream cone.
2) rivers- hares ear nymph and a tan elk hair caddis.
3) if i could only have one fly- an olive seal bugger.
4) as for steelhead flies I am leaning towards a black or purple egg sucking leech or the blue intruder type fly that Rick submitted for the steelhead fly swap.
Looking forward the hearing what the rest of you guys like to fall back on,
Brian

[newsteelyman]

What? Nobody got any goto patterns or are they secret?
Brian

[tbar24]

totally depends

my lake go to fly would be a stickle back(in a variety of colors) or some form of bug to match the hatch
salmon would probably be a clouser minnow in either pink blue or chartreuse
as for steelhead haha i couldn't tell ya cause i still have yet to catch one
and for trout rivers id ahve to say probably an adams
hope that helps( at least a little)
-tyler-

[professori]

What? Nobody got any goto patterns or are they secret?
Brian

My go-to patterns are really dependent on time of year, time of day, what activity is on the water, what species I am targeting, whether I am in still or moving water, etc. Quite honestly, I think the concept of a go-to fly is something I no longer believe in, as there is no single fly that will be productive under all conditions.

[kssm]

kinda hard to pick, but when moving around etc. on lakes I often use the classic black micro leech or an olive wooly bugger.

[Ruger]

1) stillwaters- trolling would be a black micro-leech. dry fly would be a Tom Thumb or Adams. chironomid would be a Chromie.
2) rivers- Adams or Tom Thumb. maybe a Muddler if i want to fish wet flies.
3) if i could only have one fly- Tom Thumb. the most versatile fly i've found.
4) as for steelhead flies - i don't really chuck flies for steelies. i have yet to even hook one on gear, never mind the fly. for salmon, i like teh big attractor patterns. Popsicles and the like.

[btree]

ok, based on a small part of BC (Boundary / West Koots)

LAKES
Early season - #12 black and silver chroni or #12 micro leach
There is always an awesome damsel hatch, so after May 1st, that's the pattern that I troll while I move to where I want to start casting, and then it depends.
Once things heat up in July/August I tend to go deep with a #6 olive spratley or black bugger.
Once September hits and fall is underway, I go with the leech or bugger all the time.

RIVERS
9 times out of 10 I start with a #8 or #6 Stimulator or a Stimulator without a wing so that if it sinks, it still represents a decent nymph.
Later in the year, again the black wooly bugger is killer. Also, an orange (yes bright orange!) caddis in a #10 or #8 can have it's day as well.
Of course, if there is a hatch smacking you in the face, then match it up.

SMALL STREAMS
I tend to use a #12 tom thumb or humphy, or a #14 or #16 caddis, either with a gold body or olive body, but if I dont get results fast, I go with a chartreus body.
If that doesnt work, then I go to a Royal Coachman because it works floating, sunk or swung.

Of course, watching for an ant or caddis hatch or a big stone fly hatch can be the key. Not a real consistent sedge hatch in my old neighbourhood but that doesnt stop me from tossing out a big tom thumb on my local lakes in June evenings. I dont often get many decent sized fish, but I did catch a bat once.

I think you could fish 99% of BC's lakes and rivers for almost all of its trout with three types of flies: Tom Thumb from size 18 to 6, Royal Coachman from size 16 to 8, and the Doc Spratley from size 16 to 2 in a variety of colours.

Of course there would be some fish (winter steelhead for example) that you would not consistly reach with even a red or pink Spratley,

I have a soft spot for the Tom Thumb and the Spratley, but the Wooly Bugger works so often that it's on my list as well as perhaps the 4th.

[johnk]

If it's new waters to me then more often than not I'll toss a small rabbit strip leech and the colour will depend on water clarity. Dark lakes get dark flies, etc. If it's a lake I'm familiar with and there is no identifiable hatch then more often than not I'll use my crutch, the Pumpkinhead.

Where I live, boatman/backswimmer season is an extended one going from mid-July to mid-October with prolific flights happening regularly. So during that period Jennings' Boatman is always the first fly to get tested.

[count]

In the lakes I fish most I usually do well starting with a stickleback or a sprately. Stickleback was the ticket Monday morning.

[chauchey]

Up till I started tying flies it was the Black Doc Sprately. I took the advice from 'The Gilly' where it says 'Someone once told me to troll a Doc Sprately untill you caught a fish, and then throat pump it'...and since I didn't have a throat pump and released 95% of my fish...I ended up sticking with the Black Doc Sprately. Caught my personal best(19.5") on it.
But now...well...things have changed. I started tying flies a couple months back and I've started practicing my casting, as well I started looking at bugs on the water surface alot more closely and have noticed what has come out of trout that I now pump for their recent lunch. I never eat their lunch after taking it, a waste some might say but I'm a bit of a bully that way.

My goto flies now are....

BH Black Bugger /w purple flashabou accent in the tail.

Flies I'd like to make my goto flies

Chromie, Blk/red Chronie, Skips Furry Dragon(I like the look of this fly), and Chans Damsel. I'm in the middle of developing a leech pattern that needs some work on getting it to pitch just right, but when I'm done with it, I bet it'll be able to talk, and sing tenor.