What flies should I have in my box??

[Troutier Bassier]

I just obtained a new fly box and I have enough money to buy around 10 other flies..
What flies are essentials to have? I fish for just about every specie that can possibly be caught with the fly.
Or what materials should I get to tie with??? With a budget of near $20?
Anything would be appreciated.
And heres what I have so far, a few jigs and a ton of glo-bugs.

 

[OnTheFly]

Before you spend 20 dollars on a dozen flies, give Markcanby a hollar. He obtains most of his flies from E-Bay for pennies a fly and has a great collection. I'm sure he can give you some advice.

 

[eggs]

And they are pretty decent quality too!

 

[GungasUncle]

You've got a few of the best single most fish catching fly in existence already... so - throw in some Bivisibles, Elk Hair Caddis, and some Hare's Ears or Pheasant Tails and you'd have a good starter kit. I'm not sure I'd have bought so many Glo Bugs - honestly, I've rarely caught fish on mine, and often wind up fishing other flies even when the Glo Bugs would produce. I would've gone with more Woolly Buggers and Egg Sucking Leeches over the Glo Bugs. If you're going for more of a sinking fly type box - instead of the dry flies I mentioned - I'd get some Muddler Minnows, Zonkers, the Hare's Ears, and some Prince Nymphs. You will generally catch more fish on subsurface flies than dry flies - although I think dry fly fishing is more fun, and thus half of my flies in my box are dry.

If all you wanted to do was slay fish and didn't care about pattern - you could carry a box with nothing but various size and color Woolly Buggers and never have to change to a different type of fly.

 

[flyguy]

I recommend some Elk Hair Caddis both tan and olive, copper johns, bead head gold ribbed hares ear, bh prince nymph, prince nymph, bh pheasant tail, prince nymph rubber legs, olive and black bh woolly buggers, maybe a disco midge or two, brassie, WD40, that should cover it.

 

[GungasUncle]

I gotta agree w/ FlyGuy - I'm a happy customer of StreamFlies

ETA:

Since you also inquired about what materials to buy to tie up some flies...

You say you've got about $20 or so for materials.

I'd get a package each of black and olive marabou - that'll cost you $6 - 10 depending on what kind of deal you find. Buy a couple cards of black & olive chenille - there's another $4-6, and the remaining money - buy a 50 pack of Mustad 2XL Shank streamer hooks, say, size 6 or 8. Then when you get a bit of extra cash - or can find someone who will donate to the cause - pick up a couple cheap hen capes in black and olive, or grizzly and olive. Those will probably run about $10 a piece, maybe a little more. It's been a while since I bought a hen cape. You want the cape of a hen for most of your wet flies - because hens have softer feather fibers, which work better on wets usually. Rooster capes are better for tying up dry flies.

With the marabou, chenille, and hen capes - you can tie up hundreds of Woolly Buggers, Woolly Worms, Marabou Leeches, and soft hackle wet flies.

 

[mikeredding]

I have always had much faith in the "Adams".

 

[halibuthitman]

this is an impossible question... well over 8000 versions of the most common flies.... so I will go with for the all purpose fly just tie a 2 inch piece of black yarn to a red hook, otherwise for 20 bones you need to pick a target or at least a time of year.. mabe a water type... just to broad george-

 

[troutdude]

If all you wanted to do was slay fish and didn't care about pattern - you could carry a box with nothing but various size and color Woolly Buggers and never have to change to a different type of fly.

My experience has shown this to be very true. The same has also been true for me, with a collection of Teeny Nymphs too (or similar patterns...don't have to be the Jim Teeny versions). I never leave home, without a good supply of Buggers n' Nymphs.

 

[halibuthitman]

My experience has shown this to be very true. The same has also been true for me, with a collection of Teeny Nymphs too (or similar patterns...don't have to be the Jim Teeny versions). I never leave home, without a good supply of Buggers n' Nymphs.

thats true... but this is a FLY fishing question.. not pulling plugs and bobber fishing.. he he

 

[troutdude]

thats true... but this is a FLY fishing question.. not pulling plugs and bobber fishing.. he he

Uh...where does my post say anything other than buggers n' nymphs...are they not flies?

 

[halibuthitman]

Uh...where does my post say anything other than buggers n' nymphs...are they not flies?

well, actually no, otherwise they would be called.... flies.. a fly is the end result of those two creatures, but that niether here nor there..... I was just messin with ya... everybody just wants to stick into a kids hand what will catch fish, instead of the journey of two years of not getting it, then sitting down a deciding to learn some ****, and pulling a bugger behind a float tube or toon all day is pulling buggers,, its as much the art of fly fishing as dredging eggs and lead for steel... its fishing with a fly rod... not fly fishing- flies are the **** that gets caught in your nose... nymphs are the thing that get caught in your ear.. when you are " nymphing"

 

[troutdude]

well, actually no, otherwise they would be called.... flies.. a fly is the end result of those two creatures, but that niether here nor there..... I was just messin with ya... everybody just wants to stick into a kids hand what will catch fish, instead of the journey of two years of not getting it, then sitting down a deciding to learn some ****, and pulling a bugger behind a float tube or toon all day is pulling buggers,, its as much the art of fly fishing as dredging eggs and lead for steel... its fishing with a fly rod... not fly fishing- flies are the **** that gets caught in your nose... nymphs are the thing that get caught in your ear.. when you are " nymphing"

OK. Got it. It's just a simple case of splitting those nose / elk hairs.

 

[halibuthitman]

I know, im sorry, Im stuck in a hotel room and the forum is kinda boring lately.... when I was a wee lad my dad used to get mad when I said I was spin fishing, when I was using spoons... stupid-

 

[GungasUncle]

Hm - well - since HHM put it so eloquently - you could fill 'er up with dry flies and ditch the nasty buggers & glo bugs Humpies (yellow, royal, adams, and green) - Wulffs (Royal, Yellow, Adams, Tan...) - The Adams, the Tan Adams, the Adams Female (the one with the wide down swept wings, not simply an adams with a green butt), Light Cahill, Dark Cahill, Blue Winged Olives, Blue Duns, Red Quill Spinners, Rusty Quills, Irresistibles, Griffiths Gnats - these are good dry flies to have Dont forget March Browns either!

And you need some good old school wet flies - non weighted kind - Parmachene Belle, Red Ibis, Coachman, Royal Coachman, Blue Dun, Adams (wet version), BWO Wet, the Partridge & Orange, Partridge & Green, and the Hare's Ear Wet flies are good.

Drys - fish up stream and across with a dead drift. Wets fish down & across on a swing These still catch fish - and if you get all crazy - you can fish a bushy dry, then attach a dropper with a traditional wet - and slay the fishies! But don't tell anyone I said that. That's kind of a secret trick of mine... shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

 

[bigsteel]

I would get stimulators,parachute adams,caddis pupas.

on a side note,Jim Teeny is a flosser and has been ticketed for flossing on the wind river,just google "jim teeny flosser".i would not recommend anything that gentleman creates. sorry for the hijack

 

[troutdude]

Just to clarify...I had no intentions of "promoting" Jim Teeney. He's a dweeb, and his flies are too expensive to boot. You can buy the same patterns for a lot less, and not support an idiot at the same time!

 

[halibuthitman]

I would get stimulators,parachute adams,caddis pupas.

on a side note,Jim Teeny is a flosser and has been ticketed for flossing on the wind river,just google "jim teeny flosser".i would not recommend anything that gentleman creates. sorry for the hijack

wow.. where do you see all this stuff.. teeny is a flosser, well gents thats what happens when you decide to market yourself... and then you HAVE to catch fish... funny, I never liked most of his **** anyway.

 

[Troutier Bassier]

Glo bugs catch fish like Steelhead Stalkers UV catches fisherman. The steelhead love them.
and I'll probably be adding some foam spidders, BWO's, Bead prince nymphs, San Juan worms, elk hair caddis, a few stimulators, and some more various nymphs.
Who's jim teeny?

 

[Yohan]

Teeny is the guy who throws rock into steelhead runs/pools to scare them into biting. I wouldn't worry too much about who Teeny is b/c I think he is a worthless roll model for fishermen just getting into the game.