# Your Opinion -What are your "go to" Utah flies?



## Fleigenbinder (Feb 3, 2010)

Fishing a river or stillwater in Utah, what are your "go to" flies?

Please list if you fish river or stillwater and then you First, Second and Third go to fly.
We will assume there is nothing hatching.

I would really appreciate your opinion 

And if you want to add more detail, list your top ten flies.

Thanks
Fenwick Fleigenbinder


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

We've had a few of these threads in the past.

Mine are:
Streams - elk hair caddis, humpy, pheasant tail, royal wulff, adams, madam x hopper, stimulator, elk hair caddis, wolly bugger, elk hair caddis. Did I say elk hair caddis?

Still water - mohair leech, wolly bugger, crystal bugger, elk hair caddis, parachute adams.


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## Packfish (Oct 30, 2007)

GaryFish said:


> We've had a few of these threads in the past.
> 
> Mine are:
> Streams - elk hair caddis, humpy, pheasant tail, royal wulff, adams, madam x hopper, stimulator, elk hair caddis, wolly bugger, elk hair caddis. Did I say elk hair caddis?
> ...


Everyone is going to have a "SPECIAL" fly they feel very confident in and confidence is 3/4 of the battle.
But Gary pretty much took in all the basics- if you can't catch fish on those flies then you better look to your presentation as being the problem.


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## kochanut (Jan 10, 2010)

Provo = 26 bead head hairs ear or pheasant tail.... #1 provo fly for me, from a 20 down to a 28 Barrs emerger, has got to be a bead head.

Weber = 18 to 26 Red Copper John, with a Silver'ish meets green (close to a lightning bug but not quiet) fly i tie, 18 to 22

Green = Zebra midges 20 to 24 with a copper john dropper 24 to 26

Logan = Several colored copper johns, from 16 to 30's with a bead head dropper in 24

Black smith fork = same as the logan, but only red copper johns

Ogden, same as the weber, but i lose the silver'ish thing and replace it with a tiny soft hackle non-bead head

Lakes = streamers all the way, kinda to many to list except The Berry where i fish wind shawdows on midge patterns..... sounds weird but trust me it works lol.... as far as other lakes its streamers all the way, kinda depends on the water the day i fish.


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## Pez Gallo (Dec 27, 2007)

maribou jig... 

hare's ear, pheasant tail, sow bug, copper john, any foam hopper


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## Fleigenbinder (Feb 3, 2010)

kochanut said:


> Provo = 26 bead head hairs ear or pheasant tail.... #1 provo fly for me, from a 20 down to a 28 Barrs emerger, has got to be a bead head.
> 
> Weber = 18 to 26 Red Copper John, with a Silver'ish meets green (close to a lightning bug but not quiet) fly i tie, 18 to 22
> 
> ...


You must have great eyesight, at my age I cant hardly see much less tie on and fish with anything less than a 24 or 26. Do you eat a lot of carrots or use a magnifying glass?


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## kochanut (Jan 10, 2010)

Fleigenbinder said:


> kochanut said:
> 
> 
> > Provo = 26 bead head hairs ear or pheasant tail.... #1 provo fly for me, from a 20 down to a 28 Barrs emerger, has got to be a bead head.
> ...


i compare it to sex, i kinda poke around until i get the tippet in, then im good for 5 or 6 seconds


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## sinergy (Mar 6, 2008)

Awahaha .. I must be fishing the wrong flies.


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## proutdoors (Sep 24, 2007)

Streams<>Elk hair caddis
Lakes<>Wolly bugger beadhead


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## quakeycrazy (Sep 18, 2007)

Streams: pheasant tail, hares ear, zebra's, sow bugs (in other words I am a NYMPHO!!)
Lakes: 90% bead head black wooly buggers!!!


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## Troll (Oct 21, 2008)

Streams, Elk Hair Caddis in olive body. Parachute Adams in olive or brown. Royal Wulff.

Rivers, Cicadas, Hoppers and leech streamers.

Lakes, Decivers for wipers, leeches and buggers for trout, deer hair frogs and crayfish for bass.


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## RnF (Sep 25, 2007)

I am a big fan of matching the hatch or the bugs that are in season. So there isn't really one fly that I would consider my go to fly. My patterns even change as the hatch progresses into different phases.

If bwo's are hatching, I put an olive patterns

pmd's = brown nymphs and yellow dry flies

caddis, all sort of colors work, brown, olive, black, etc

midges, anything dark olive usually does the trick unless I see them in different colors.

I don't ever stick with one particular pattern for too long. The fish seem to prefer different patterns from year to year. Meaning one particular pattern will slay one year and skunk you the next. So it's a good idea to experiment from time to time.

If I had to choose one still water pattern, it would be an olive and black bugger of some sort.


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## lunkerhunter2 (Nov 3, 2007)

I rarely fish lakes but when i fish ANY river in UT, my go-to flies are as follows:
1 Hares Ear
2 Zebra Midge
3 prince Nymph


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## Heliotropic (Mar 12, 2010)

I mainly stick with the dry's. There's nothing like actually _seeing_ the fish take the fly.
My "go to" fly would have to be BWO, but my favorite is an Elk Hair mostly because it's the easiest to follow down the river.


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## sinergy (Mar 6, 2008)

BH Hares Ear variant ( I tie it with a bushier tail ) 
Ray Charles
Silver wire Shellback Scud


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## neverdrawn (Jan 3, 2009)

Streams or rivers I like a pt or a hares ear and depending on the time of year a glo bug with a dropper.
Still water is a brown black or oliver beadhead bugger and an occasional mickey finn.


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## dank80 (Oct 31, 2007)

BH pheasant tail, sow bug, EH caddis, and couple other mongrels I tie that don't really have a name.


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## F/V Gulf Ventur (Oct 8, 2007)

*River*
Grumpy Frumpy
Palomino Caddis
Mouse
Cicada
Petite Sirloin
Parachute Hare's Ear
Snorkel Hopper
Scubahopper
Grand Hopper
LARGE STREAMERS
anything tied by RnF or Cheech


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## MarkM (Sep 7, 2007)

Stillwater - A olive Wolley bugger foloowed by a black leach. I also like the Rickards stillwater nymph.

Tailwaters like the Provo or Green - For nymphing a beadhead pheasant tail paried with a brassie. For dryflys it depends on what is hatching but I like quill body parachutes color/size to match what is hatching. For midges on top I like a griffiths gnat or a CDC midge.

Small Streams - Either a parachute Adams (I love parachutes) or a elk hair caddis.

Mark


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## campfire (Sep 9, 2007)

It is a hard question because it depends on type of fishing, location and time of year. What is my "go to fly" on a particular stream might be different in November than in March. But here goes nothing:
Nymphing streams- I fish mostly The Weber in winter months, pheasant tail and glow bug in November, Hears ears and sow bugs/gray scuds in winter/early spring.
Streams dry- early spring, BWO emerger/elk hair caddis/adams trudy. I fish mostly high small streams in the Summer months and a royal stimulator works great.
When I nymph streams in the summer a pheasant tail is my "go to" fly.
Uinta lakes dry- renagade, royal wolf, simulators and a red serendipity fished just under the surface film (but that is a secret :wink: ).
Lakes wet- black wolly bugger( particularly on the Berry), I like trolling red and white streamers and double renagade "Pistol Petes" in my canoe with sinking line.



I think I just made myself crave a fishing trip........ _(O)_


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## scott_rn (Sep 11, 2007)

RnF said:


> I am a big fan of matching the hatch or the bugs that are in season. So there isn't really one fly that I would consider my go to fly. My patterns even change as the hatch progresses into different phases.


I thought you said at one point a wooly worm was your go to fly, right?



campfire said:


> It is a hard question because it depends on type of fishing, location and time of year.


Admit it Jim, you really only fish one pattern. At least you sort of came clean and included it in your list. Unless you call a rapala a pattern :wink:

Brassies n bh pheasant tails have been my go to for rivers. BH wooly buggers for stillwater, but I like to pull a soft hackle right under the surface of the water too.


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## RnF (Sep 25, 2007)

scott_rn said:


> RnF said:
> 
> 
> > I am a big fan of matching the hatch or the bugs that are in season. So there isn't really one fly that I would consider my go to fly. My patterns even change as the hatch progresses into different phases.
> ...


I believe you are right. Those do work quite well. Olive and Black, can't go wrong with it. I haven't used one for awhile though. It's more my go to pattern when nothing else is working, it usually gets a few slimers on the end of the line.

How's Alaska treating you?


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## scott_rn (Sep 11, 2007)

RnF said:


> How's Alaska treating you?


We love it. It sucks that you can't fly fish basically November to April except the Kenai, which is a three hour drive. We caught a ton of little fish on Monday through three feet of ice with over a dozen preschoolers.


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