The best fly in your box…

I never really liked the term “my favorite fly”. Is it really possible to have a favorite fly when you need so many different flies to catch so many different kinds of fish in different waters, at different times of the year in different situations? I mean really, how can you favor a Wooly Bugger over a Christmas Island special when you would be hard pressed catching the target specie of either bug with the other fly. I’m not saying a 12# Sugar Loaf Key bone wouldn’t eat a size 8 Golden Retreiver but if it actually worked all that well every shop from Biscayne Bay to Key West would have them in the bins and at this point I have yet to see a one. So I guess it would make more sense to have a favorite bass fly or a favorite deep water nymph or maybe a favorite crab pattern for permit. So maybe several favorite flies??? I have always found it interesting when speaking with other anglers how they show me a bug and tell me it is their “go to fly” when I have yet to even put that specific fly in my box and take it for a streamside walk. Earlier this spring I was fishing with Orvis Sales Associate and fishing friend Mark Fackner and at one point in the day I asked what was working for him and he showed me a fly that I have seen in our bins at the store for years but never once thought about throwing to trout. A bass bug sure but for trout? Well The Autumn Splendor remains one of Mark’s go to flies and while I still have yet to make room for it in my box, Mark and the students that he works with continue to have great success with it. While working in a fly shop, we have the opportunity and responsibility of filling fly boxes for others on a regular basis. Of course there are patterns that have been proven over time and been effective for decades and that are included in virtually every “fly box collection” sold for specific species from just about every fly supplier. But for those of us who spend a lot of time on the water we often end up trying to fool fish with less than popular or mainstream flies especially when the standard bugs aren’t working. As a result, the next time we go fishing we find ourselves favoring those flies and as our confidence grows we fish them more and more often. As a result of that result we recommend these bugs to our customers so that they can realize that same success. As many of our local customers know if I were to recommend one streamer pattern that would be an alternative to the standard wooly bugger or Clouser Minnow it would be the Cone Head Bunny Muddler. “For trout or bass?” I am often asked. “Either, any and all!” I reply. Yep for me the CHBM is one of those multi- specie bugs that just works. I have caught rainbow, brown and brook trout, cutthroat, salmon, LMB’s and smallies, catfish, striper, bluefish, mackerel and snook. And they are just the fish I have thrown it to. I am confident that reds, sea trout and tarpon would chew on it willingly I have just yet to throw it to them. Most importantly, I recommend this fly to anglers that are fishing a body of water with limited success as it often finds a way of enticing picky fish. I love it in white but it is also available in brown, olive and black. It comes in sizes 4, 6 and 8 however I refer to them as small medium and large and I love the big one for most species including trout. Go big, you can always downsize and scale back if they wont react to the larger fly. I think that one of the reasons this bug works so well is that the action of the rabbit strip is hard for fish to deny. It has such great movement that differs greatly from marabou and bucktail. This fly swims with hook point down and is so well balanced by rubber legs on each side it maintains a lifelike presence throughout the presentation. Thankfully we all have our own favorite flies. Otherwise we would all be throwing the exact same flies and not only would be bored as anglers, tyers and at the fly shops, just think about the fish! The only thing that really matters is that the fly works for you. Which is why I think that everyone ends up switching to a bug that may not be the best seller in the shops. The standard flies do seem to produce and have proven themselves throughout the years over and over again. But it sure is nice to have an option in the box that just might get the fish to react when the traditional bugs wont. In the end it really doesn’t matter if the fly is a new creation or something that is on the cover of every fly tying book ever published. More times than not, the most effective fly anyone can throw and the best fly in the box is the one that you have the most confidence in.