In the world of trout fishing there are a ton of flies and options available but if I had to boil it down to three flies to live by, they would be general patterns that somewhat imitate everything and nothing at the same time. These flies would be the bead head pheasant tail nymph, the bead head prince nymph, and the bead head hare’s ear nymph. They are all excellent choices and I would have a supply of size 10’s and 12’s at my disposal.
The reason for these choices is that the prince is a dark fly, the pheasant tail is a medium brown fly, and the hare’s ear is typically a light coloured fly. In many lakes a number of chironomid hatches come off and typically they will be in the above size range. They will either be dark, medium brown, or light coloured and these three flies will have it all covered. Then it’s just a matter of choosing the right size, approximate colour and waiting for the strike.
I usually fish my flies under a nickel sized corkie set up in slip bobber style suspended a foot off the bottom. I try to focus on areas where I see rises, but if there is no surface activity I’ll fish over 5 to 10 foot deep mud flats interspersed with weeds. The bobber will slowly sink on the strike, but there is still time to react and I reel in until I feel the weight of the fish, then smoothly bring the rod back for an easy hook set. It’s all over but the landing.
