Got silver?

[John L]

I think I can tie up this thread some. Let me start with an example from my wife's spinfishing experience.

She came to me spinfishing and not flyfishing, and we both found she could predictably outfish me in stretches of river that were deep and slow. She copied other spinfishemen who claimed high catch success and settled on two types of lures that caught well: Kastmasters because they cast well and were not as expensive as ... Rapalas, which seemed to catch better than anything else. But not just any color. Plain silver would catch, and plain gold, and silver and gold, and silver and blue, but hands down for both lures were brown troutish colors first and rainbowish colors second. And I think no surprise considering what the trout probably thought these lures resembled. Our rivers have a small minnow base other than young of the majority Brown Trout and minority Rainbow.

Re my flies, I thought silverish size 14s and 16s were working best this spring-fall. Some of my typical patterns are pictured over on DUBBN's Vacation thread - http://www.flymphforum.com/viewtopic.ph ... 3&start=20

I posted to see what you thought of silverish. Nobody replied with real agreement or disagreement, and I assume you are caching just fine on a variety of colors (and sizes). Now what I think is 1, I might be fooling myself or 2, the high predominance of caddis in the freestone rivers I fish are in fact especially well resembled, at probably the exciting pupating-hatching phase, by silverish 14-16 flies.

What's happened since some time in November is that I began to catch sometimes more fish on a dark trailer fly, or a tiny one, and began not catching fish in the usual turbulent sections, but in soft sections instead. I never see caddis in the air any more. My local fly shop staff tell me the only insects sometimes heading for the surface now are midges and Baetis. I have been trying so many different flies recently that I have no impression of a color or size that is special.

I still think silverish is special, in my caddis rivers, for 3/4 of the year, and maybe in other caddis rivers too. Maybe I will get a different impression next year. But, for now, like Forrest Gump, that's all I have to say about that.

[DUBBN]

Keep up the great observations John. I am finding myself paying more attention to what color ribbing is working due to your comments.

[letumgo]

Nice summary, John.

[John L]

I still have silver but, with another year of experience .... probably along with others who did not reply whether they thought silver was especially attractive on small or any flies, I now think silver isn't special.

Having a lot more experience trying size 14 and 16 flies with silver (bead heads) in tandem with the same flies except, say, with copper or gold, I do not notice a significant difference in catch rate. However, compared to such size flies tied one way or another to be not shiny, I think shiny may be helpful, at least on such size flies.

I like tungsten beadheads in size 14 and 16 because that size and much smaller is what I mostly find in the stomachs of the few fish I clean to eat, and tungsten gets the flies down well for me without other weight. Though I guess there is disagreement whether any emerging insects or diving egg layers really carry silvery/shiny air bubbles with them, for me on my caddis rivers, shiny seems helpful.

I see plenty of you catch plenty of nice fish on flies that are a lot different than mine, so I don't take my opinion too seriously.

[gingerdun]

John,

Thanks for reporting on the results of your research.

When Dubbn and I had a discussion here about bubbles long ago, he made a remark that stuck with me—something along the lines of "I believe in tinsel, but not in bubbles." The absence of hard photographic evidence about bubbles in living aquatic insects is a problem, but the practical success of shiny tinsel, wire, beads, and flash speaks for itself.

Some of the flies that my Dad tied late in his career were heavy on the bling because they were effective in the fast Western streams he fished. Here are samples in gold, not silver. They were posted on the forum before, but might be worth another look in this context.

[John L]

gingerdun, I like what you report that DUBBN believes in. I guess I could say that is what I believe in, too.

Your dad's flies look like what we are talking about. Again I am impressed by how often on this forum I see flies that strike me as "interesting" and "beautiful".

Tight lines for us all,

John L

[William Anderson]

John, I'm so glad to see this follow-up report. I know we all adapt flies to meet our localized conditions. Wayne says he doesn't fish the film, so bubbles wouldn't necessarily play a part in his fly designs. I can see why bling would work. It works very well for me when I want to put flies further down.

Here is a fly I posted some time ago and have had great success in the sizes you mention. Usually on quick, small water so the takes are still typically visible. Silver and Amber, and Dark Copper are my favorites.


I have actually incorporated tinsel very little in most of my fly tying except to recreate a historic pattern. After seeing Lance's fathers flies in his wallet a couple years ago, the tinsel has been out of the case and on my desk ever since. This is a "one-off" fly that was the result of fooling with some dubbing blends. All the historic attributes, but not based on any pattern in particular. Throw in the Contemporary Folder.


The fly actually just went straight to the patch on my vest and found it's timing in a swift seam on the Beaverkill a few weeks ago.


Lance, thanks again for sharing so many of your father's patterns.

w

[Premerger]

John L, have you run experiments with fine gold wire?
Over our winter, I tied some patterns with 4 turns of fine gold wire and was amazed to see how significant that was in reflecting light while in the water

[John L]

William - I really like that black hackled, silver wire bodied fly. It looks really edible.

Premerger - No, I haven't used fine wire ribbing especially for shine, nor tinsel either. But I imagine the shine from anything like that would be equivalent to the shine from the tung beads I use. The tung beads are my choice so I can dispense with weight on the leader. I fish with a 12' tenkara rod and short line, so it is easy for me to hold heavy flies up when I don't want them deep, and I get all the depth control flexibility I want.

ps - I sometimes use medium wire for a weighty underbody, and also over thread and dubbing for protection from the fishes' teeth. I could as well use fine wire.