Dry Flies To Carry - A Rationalization Exercise

[Wildfisher]

I'm going through a painful and difficult divorce right now with my fly box!  I have to part company with most of my dry flies in order to preserve my sanity while raking through my box on the bank.

I have a box stuffed with dry flies I never use, in fact they make it difficult to find flies I do use, so it's time to be brutal and rationalise.

Firstly I am making up a list of the flies I do use often then one of flies I use occasionally. What would you add to these lists?  Am I missing something?

Remember this is DRY FLES only and I am both a river and a loch fisher.  I'll get on to the wets later!

Regular use
CDC and Elk /   CDC poly wing
Olive Dirty Poly in various sizes
Black Dirty Poly in various sizes
Brown / ginger  Dirty Poly in various sizes (my most successful 'normal' dry fly)
Olive Naomi / Octa-Naomi  in varuious sizes – normal and long shank
Black Naomi / Octa-Naomi  in varuious sizes – normal and long shank
Elk Hair Caddis  in various sizes

Occasional Use
Kinkhamer Olive  sizes 16, 14 (I have lost faith in Klinks generally)
Kinkhamer Black  sizes 16, 14
Parachute Adams in various sizes
Hopper 14 and 12 (hardly ever use these)
DHE – not a fly I really like because of difficulty seeing it  when river fishing
Tarantula
Olive Foam Cicadas
A few huge terrestrials.

Do I need anything else for river and loch?

[burnie]

I like a Sedgehog on the Lochs and a Bibio, Olives and Klinks on the rivers

[Wildfisher]

I tend to think of bibios and sedgehogs as wet / pulling flies and have both of them in the wet fly box.

[Midgie Hater]

I'm going to be watching how this thread develops so I can get a better idea of dries to take for my local when the time comes around again, but, although not as experienced as most on here the dries i've found which seem to work on the river are, by-and-large the smaller sizes (16, maybe 18 at a push) of the following (all very traditional):

Brown, orange and olive poly-wing spinners (need to stock up on the olives - again!) sizes 16 & 18
Grey dusters size 16 (custom-tied by my local angling shop expert Jim Milne. He refuses to tie 18's for some reason!)
Ginger Quill - sizes 16 & 18
Humpies - yellow, olive, orange - sizes 14 & 16. Very occasionally a very buoyant 14 or 12 when trout are taking big olives
Up-winged Olive Dun - size 14 (again, occasionally)

Interesting that you've lost faith a bit in Klinks Fred. As I was reading that I was swithering about buying a new set of 12 in sizes 14/16 - and now I continue to swither as I've often tried the few I have but with limited success, assuming I must be doing something wrong. I've also tried the "New Zealand" method of nymphing with a bright Klink acting as an indicator and a gold-head tied into the hook-length - again limited success but that may be down to my poor attempts at getting a suitable dead drift.

My boss, who introduced me to this insane activity that we all share last year started using small (size 18) White Millers during the evening rise, duping a good few decent-sized trout with it. Never  tried this myself but thought forum members might be interested.

Oh and i've never had any success with CDC's despite the fact we're told these are ideal flies for the river.

[Yardbent]

watching this too...as i don't know where to even start choosing a selection

not familiar with your choices so far ... will research later, but should one of them be a ''spent spinner'' style..?

BTW....single for 30years now...it all works out in the end. Good Luck

[Wildfisher]

Interesting that you've lost faith a bit in Klinks Fred.

Far too many refusals with them over the past few years on rivers whereas a Dirty Poly has been eagerly taken.

[Otter Spotter]

I have a box stuffed with dry flies I never use,

I'll buy them off you :-)


I promise one day I will rationalise but until that day... Well you just never know when you might need that flea you have never needed before!

[Rabmax]

You won't get 'rational' from anyone that makes their own flies :lol:

Here you go, my loch selection...

This has hit the nail on the head.People that tie there own generally carry too many flies.I must force myself to carry fewer flies next year.Where did you buy those little plastic boxes Alan.

[Yardbent]

...................Where did you buy those little plastic boxes Alan. ...............

in the sea section of GAC there are all sorts of compartment poly boxes

i got a 5x2 17cmx9cm.........................................£1..

[Rabmax]

Cheers  Yardbent .