Michael had some great recommendations, and it's tough to really expand much on his recommendations... but I will anyway. I always have a large variety of sizes and colors, which can be good and bad. I can definitely match whatever the fish are biting, but more flies means greater urge to switch flies constantly.
Additional recommendation:
Dragonfly nymph. I tend to have lower productivity on these for bass simply because the sunfish are always all over it, but it's the fly that seems to get the most stubborn bass to bite for me when nothing else will.
Expansion on Michael's recommendations:
Clousers - They will catch nearly any species of fish in nearly any body of water - salt or fresh. As Michael mentioned, chartreuse/white is good, but I also often use olive or brown and white. I've also heard a grey/white works well in this area, but I've only fished it once or twice. Olive/white is the best combo I've used on the Shenandoah for smallies.
Woolly buggers - I have a bunch of colors, but usually stick to all black or all olive, with the occasional white or brown or some combo of all the above.
Crayfish - Never used Skip's Dad, but I like the look of it. Simple, realistic (enough), and nothing fancy. The biggest challenge I have is some of the more realistic looking patters have claws that can flop around... which is great, but leads to the claws getting tangled around the hook.
Poppers - I usually stick with the Boogle Bugs for the sole reason that I live across from Orvis in Clarendon and that's what they sell. And that they work great helps too. I probably have about 30 on me at all times in lots of colors and sizes (I like being prepared!). The yellow ones seem to be the ticket around here for me, while blue works best for me on the Shenandoah and Rappahannock.
I always have a few other patterns with me, but either rarely use them, or they're "specialized" to a river. E.g. a "magnum hogsucker" from Murray's Fly Shop is one of the most productive sub-surface smallmouth flies I've ever used on the Shenandoah, but never had any success with it around here.
On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 7:44 AM, Jarrod Hills <jmhills@gmail.com> wrote:
I've a good selection of nymphs, wet and dry flies for trout but absolutely nothing for bigger, warm water fish. I'd like to start up a box of stuff that will work for fish in the rivers around here. What do you suggest I start the collection with? What are your essential flies?
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