Top 3 Characteristics of “Good” Fly Fishing Flies | Ep. 78

[@venturesflyco]

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[@austinhall485]

I started trying to fly fish as of last weekend and i just figured if i went and bought the flies that were almost sold out id be in pretty good shape. I was indeed right and got 2 rainbows and 2 grayling on my first two times out with a fly rod

[@venturesflyco]

That’s a pretty solid strategy. Haha. Thanks for sharing. 😎🤙🏽

[@christianherrington1456]

I noticed the same thing only had like 2 zebra midges at the shop I grabbed them and started catching slabs.

[@gzeppe4671]

4 year into trout fly fishing and first year fly tying. Watched tons of videos. I can say I caught less with flies I tied likely due to proportions. They looked good to me but the more I observe the more I learn.

[@JohanBart1]

This is what I like about Tenkara. 1 fly, in 3 different sizes and it’s all about the presentation. I still find myself tying on different flys when I don’t have any luck fly fishing though.

Great video ! Let me say, you guys know more about fly fishing than I will ever know, and for me this is the perfect video. Just finished 100 flys for the "Fly-a-Thon. Probably 120 because I didn't like the proportions. Let me add a subset to proportions SIZE. At least on a given day when looking at what is hatching. Thanks again for all the info you provide for us.

[@philipfachan8001]

Great show......I am constantly re-thinking my presentation

[@venturesflyco]

Glad you enjoyed it. Presentation is king! 👑

[@johnhanley8708]

You guys are great to listen to on a podcast you keep things lively and informative Thanks!

[@Im_a_dude192]

Hey man love the vids a lot You're a true lifesaver when it comes to fly fishing. Tho I was just watching a video of yours from 7 months ago titled how to set up your fly line and I was wondering why you guys recommend the clinch knot instead of the improved clinch knot. It's just as easy and it adds more strength.

[@Im_a_dude192]

Sorry for the saying this 7 months late😅 just now learning how to fly fish

[@venturesflyco]

Don't worry about being late, we're here to help! As far as the knot goes -- I don't think me or Alex ever really use the improved clinch, and I think that's because neither of us grew up using it, and I'm DEFINITELY a creature of habit. But it's a good knot, so if you want to use it, then go for it!

[@Redneckeverything]

As a spin fisher of +20 years for mostly pike who fly fish with friends a week a year in the north (Scandinavia) who are fly fishing nerds are really experienced. I have found something interesting. I cast like shit, have no clue about fly patterns, tippets, hatch-matching etc. But what happens every year is that I get the latest amount of fish but I always catch the biggest. I go by the "go bigger than what hatch" strategy. If there are 1000 bugs on the surface, why would they pick mine. So I make sure to go bigger and more colorful. This is just what we do while pike fishing and it seems to work also for fly fishing. Now my friends have started going for size 6-8 instead of 12-16 like they did before. So it seems like we have learnt from each other across the disciplines 😊

[@venturesflyco]

Yeah, there's some definite truth to that. It just happened to us this April, during a blue-winged olive hatch, where we caught all our fish on a size 14 Purple Haze. Kinda crazy how it works sometimes.

[@donnieconwayoutdoors]

It's ok Alex that you were reading a book about bugs.. kinda reminds me of watching the movie A Bugs Life 🤣

[@ravingdog24]

I read The Handbook of Hatches my first year fly fishing. Great book

[@venturesflyco]

Super good!!

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

Why do my clinch knots break every time on 6x and 7x tippet? It doesn't seem to matter how many times I wrap or how slow I tighten it or how I moisten it, especially on 7x Tippet they always break.

[@venturesflyco]

You might have a bad batch of tippet, but knots will break on 6 and 7x a lot easier than 4x, so you do have to be careful.

[@andrewgreco9215]

Possibly the wrong weight of rod.

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

@andrewgreco9215 they break when I tighten them, long before they get in the water. :(

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

@venturesflyco I typically only use 4 lb fluro now. Tippet is just so stupid expensive!! What are they thinking pricing 50 or even 30 yards of mono at 13 dollars?

[@MrTxalus]

U neeed the hawk tuah

[@egregiousblunder5395]

Honestly, most of the fancy patters are there just to separate the fisherman from his money. I still love buying unique patterns that I think are really cool though. But 99% of my fish come off of very plain looking perdigon variations that I tie myself. Yesterday I had the exception, I had a take on a blowtorch. I will say that some of my own perdigon patterns do vary and look a bit different than what a fish may normally see in its natural environment, thus my theory is they see it, it looks like food that is different and I get those reaction strikes from them. Also, I almost never match the hatch, I'll come close, but I never really worry about trying to match it 100%. I always tell guys, look at the bug hatches, but also remember tossing the same fly, same size or close to the same size will most likely limit your hookups, the fish is seeing hundred's to thousands of the same thing daily. That takes me back to keeping it similar to the hatch, but make it stand out just a bit and get your presentation right. Also, fly prices at shops are just nuts, 3-4 bucks a pop for a simple midge lol.

[@venturesflyco]

All sound advice. Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences! 😎🤙🏽

[@egregiousblunder5395]

@@venturesflyco I really enjoy the vid's. Hoping to break into this industry myself these days. Come down to CO for a collab sometime. I got the beer and grill in the truck!

[@ronwalczak7120]

Fun show guys Thanks…. Great conversation… im from Ypsilanti, Mi Huron River water system… small mouth bass system

[@justintothetruth]

LOL. You had me for a few minutes. Then I realized you're just a couple of guys pretending the entire radio show feel. Thanks for the master class videos.

[@donnieconwayoutdoors]

So is White fish kinda like the Greyling of Alaska. Never catch one or seen, except on your show

[@callmeCOOT]

you should sell the bad fly just as a joke lol 25:45

[@Bridgeman-bg4jl]

I can tell you that luck plays a very small part in catching good fish consistently. Presentation, stealth and local knowledge are as important as the fly. Squirmy worm is as close to a magical fly as it gets.

[@RollinRollinReelin]

Hi Spencer! Hey dude I'm really really green when it comes to fly tying and fly fishing. Now I'm I a wheelchair and on a fixed income so I fish my flies on spinning gear due to cost and having to fish from the bank. How can I, in my unique situation, learn about presentation? Any advice you may offer me and other disabled fisher persons I will be very greatful for! Tight lines guys!

[@venturesflyco]

Man, that's a tough question! Ha. And props to you for still getting out and fishing, no matter what. That's awesome! I think the basic principles of presentation are going to stay the same, though -- you want to get your flies looking as natural as possible. So the big thing is probably going to be positioning yourself in such a way that you don't get too much drag on your flies while they're drifting. I also know a lot of guys who fish big streamers on spinning rods, they just tie them behind a bubble full of water. That might be a good option, because you don't have to worry about drag. You'd fish it just like you would a lure, but you'll be catching fish on flies.

[@ravingdog24]

A Bad fly is one that falls apart after a few drifts

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

There are some bad flies and duplicate patterns with different names, and perdigons...bad flies. One of my first flies was a size 8 "zebra midge" on a straight shank hood that I fished and complained that zebra midges do not work on the Provo....

[@venturesflyco]

😂😂😂

[@RickMidds]

Back to the age old question… “Are fish smart or stupid?” 😁

[@WizardElk]

9:57 Magic Flies do Exist, just not for trout, A San Juan Worm in Texas will never fail

[@willdykema]

The best fly is a good drift

[@venturesflyco]

Amen!

[@DaveyMedley]

In my fishing area, basics rule when all else fail. Parachute pheasant tail, Parachute hairs ear, and yes adams, if one doesn't work go smaller. Dry season anyway

[@venturesflyco]

Great tip!

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

Did....did you REALLY have 156 first dates?! Dear. GOD!! I thought I had it bad at around 50...

[@gabel.5269]

Ok but what is the best fly to use?

[@canadiangemstones7636]

Adams

[@hiddenspring1542]

I laughed when you took a turn to the dark side 😂

[@RollinRollinReelin]

Thanks for all of this great information guys! God I wish I could shadow you guys for just one day,!

[@squatchy69]

I see flies all the time that I look at and think I could improve that a lot by doing one thing or the other. And here’s an example most peoples damselflies look OK I guess. But with you look how they’re built and what kind of hook there on and the material that they’re using it’s not gonna look like a dab when you put it in water and give it some motion. So to me that’s a bad fly and then secondly it depends on you. I promise you you won’t find any harder fish to catch then in the tailwater and Colorado and you’ve got to catch those fish. I’ve been fortunate enough for I’ve been fishing for 55 years now and for many years of my life, I was able to fish over 100 days a year, not as a guy just as me fisherman like him to go fishing. And I was a kind that I must carried 4000 flies on my person everywhere I went plus the special boxes on waters where I knew they were gonna have a special hatch going on and I had to have five different sizes in six different colors for every bug you could ever imagine. And I finally got to the place that I realized if I took my top tin flies, I could go anywhere in the United States and still probably catch more fish than everybody surrounding Me With my 10 chosen flies. As you guys know, you don’t have to know the names of every ply. You have to know what it’s tied to act like. And the good thing is the better flies. The best flies. You can fish them with different presentations and make them fish has different bugs in the water. Take a woolly bugger for instance, you can fish to make a fish think it’s a crawdad bouncing along on the bottom you can drag it on the bottom or through the weeds and it could be a dragonfly nymph especially if you tie your own and you just make those a little fatter right you can also make it seem like it’s a wounded fish you can make it seem like it’s a, healthy fish you can make it act like it’s trying to get away from the big fish to trigger the strike. You could even slow it down and hardly move it through the water painfully slow and it turns into a leech pattern. That’s just one bug and you’re playing it to be six or seven different things based on where are you playing at how deep you’re playing it what kind of line you have on your and obviously you have more freedom to impart different types of life into your bugs when you’re fishing Stillwater, but you can still take the tail water bug and you can just let it free drift on the bottom or you can work it to make it look like an merger coming up to the top or you can fish it in the film as if it’s a crippled merger or just up there not getting out of a shock quite right and it’s taking him some time when he hasn’t gotten his wings dried off

[@CornManly]

Do you guys offer guiding?

[@dtoux]

Here is another crazy idea… fish is dumb but each fish is different from each other… so it may be that 70% of fish is eating from the surface… but there is another 30% that thinks “screw you I’m sticking to the tradition”… so, unless you are in the competition, yo will catch fish regardless of the fly you use… percentage may be different… but it it just math… if you have 3 fish in the hole you may get no bites… but if you have 5 you may catch at least one on the junkiest fly ever… then it boils down to if you catch 15 fish or 100 fish… but for “regular” people like myself - if I catch 20-40 fish in 6 hours I’m a happy person 🙂

[@jackkrag]

So I forget the term but similar to indigenous ppl not seeing the sail ships at first meeting. It’s a thing

[@jackkrag]

Ps about a hook

[@dtoux]

Here is an idea… go fishing with your friend and do an experiment… one of you would be using best flies known to mankind and the other one using the ugliest flies in your fly box that are so terrible that would ever catch a fish in a million years (and I mean tying a noodle to chicken skin bad 😉)… and then compare results… I promise - it will shatter your world… I myself just use 2-5 different patterns nowadays and focus mostly on presentation…

[@jackkrag]

Thanks,k

[@jdouglasj2000]

Man, I wish I could get the content in the title in five minutes or less with pictures.

[@P.N.W.adventures]

The thumbnail really said the zebra midge was bad?!?😮

[@TheZachatree]

What if it was your presentation along with you’re a bad fly and that’s why it took 156 dates. 😂

[@aidenscoresby9358]

Quality checked flies are best flies 😅

[@venturesflyco]

You know a thing or two about that. 😎🤙🏽

[@jimarmstrong5868]

Look at Devin Olsen and other competitive anglers and tell me there are no experts…

[@DPM-dp9on]

Any fly that reliably catches fish, is a good fly. Not rocket science.

[@venturesflyco]

Great summary. 👍🏽

[@Hersirs-Fly-Fishing-Channel]

The squirmy is a magic fly 😡😡😡🤣

[@venturesflyco]

😂😎🤙🏽

[@Hersirs-Fly-Fishing-Channel]

@@venturesflyco I have caught 4 nice trout since late april thanks to you The largest one was 48 cm brown that took a buzzer on the swing And a 47 cm searun brown on a frenchie

[@ericoakley4388]

Tacomas? That was a joke right?

[@squatchy69]

Don’t you guys know you go to hell for fishing squirmy worms?

[@venturesflyco]

Totally worth it. Lol.