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That is a must have book. I fully recommend that one.That's a decent book. Another to have in pocket might be Hatch Guide for Western Streams by Jim Schollmeyer. As for websites Westfly.com is a good place to check out. I could suggest a ton more but wouldn't want to bog you down...right now.
I understand when you are relatively new a book about flies may seem useful, but they aren't really. Rather spend some time with Gary Borgers Presentation. He helps you understand why you are doing these things with these flies. thats much more important than picking a fly. I walk up to every single fly stream with the same flies. I have confidence in these flies, and trout are all the same all across the world. So are river bugs. size and color change bit regionally, but not much. and fish are not that smart anyway. which is why i suggest instead read about presentation.
If you are speaking about steelhead, I know its much the same. you want a strong profile in your fly, but its more about your presentation when fly fishing.
I recommend picking 3 nymphs, 3 dries and 3 emergers and fishing them all well. Get confidence in what you fish.
lets take the upper clackamas for trout. you need to cover mayflies and caddis. size 16 is a standard if you only had to pick one size, but 14s and 18s have their place. same for dries and nymphs. make sure you have some dark, some light in color. make sure some are heavy, and some not so heavy.
Otherwise, tie on a size 16 CDC and Elk with 2 to 3 ft of 5x tippet and a size 16 beaded pheasant tail nymph tied sparse. you will catch trout in any trout stream eventually with this setup.
if this question had steelhead in mind, well, sorry for my lack of advice, haha.
WOW! It's great to have a new person here that can contribute some useful info.
In my case I'd choose a sz 14 Stimulator with that PT as a drop for trout. If steelhead whatever in black and purple. As stated, "They aren't that smart," it's true.
... but its more about your presentation when fly fishing.
I recommend picking 3 nymphs, 3 dries and 3 emergers and fishing them all well. Get confidence in what you fish.
lets take the upper clackamas for trout. you need to cover mayflies and caddis. size 16 is a standard if you only had to pick one size, but 14s and 18s have their place. same for dries and nymphs. make sure you have some dark, some light in color. make sure some are heavy, and some not so heavy.
Otherwise, tie on a size 16 CDC and Elk with 2 to 3 ft of 5x tippet and a size 16 beaded pheasant tail nymph tied sparse. you will catch trout in any trout stream eventually with this setup.
Thank you so much for the book. That's what I'm exactly looking for.
Thank you for the brilliant idea! Mattz. In the meantime, PT looks meaning Pheasant Tail, but i don't know what the CDC means? Furthermore, when I present the Stimulator with a PT, how do I do?
A bad presentation with exactly the right fly will not catch fish, so I am onboard with the idea that learning a good dead-drift is probably job #1. You could start with a 2-nymph set-up, vary the looks of the nymphs (say, a prince followed by a midge), and get to work on a good cast, a great mend, and letting out line gracefully. Can catch all kinds of fish this way - just vary the size of things. My avatar is a #2 Deschutes stone that catches steelhead, and I fish it with a #6 red copper john that gets trout. You get them flowing in the right spot of water column at the same pace as the river, and you tight lines!
If you seriously want to get this fly fishing thing down, pick up a copy of The Curtis Creek Manifesto by Sheridian Anderson. It's a not so serious book that will answer a lot of your questions. It's writen in a humorous fashion with lots of drawing to aid in understand his point. It's a quick read, short and fun. You can pick it up at bi-mart for about 8 bucks or used on Amazon for less. The book cover just about all you will need to know and it will help you break the fly fishing short hand. Then you'll know CDC is nothing but short hand for Cul de Canard or duck butt feathers. CDC sound much better than duck butt feather especially if you are tying flies with them.