"...I asked the greatest trout fisherman of my era, who is himself an out-of-control proliferator of equipment and technical doo-dads, what percentage of his annual catch would remain if he were reduced to Adamses and Gold-Ribber Hare's Ear nymphs. His answer: "Certainly over ninety percent." When pressed about the staggering variety of patterns available in his fly shop, he said, "I don't sell flies to fish."
This admission reminded me of a similar conversation I'd had several years ago with one of my flyfishing mentors who maintained that he can successfully fish for trout* anywhere in Washington's fresh waters* with just six fly patterns.
So here's a question for you: if you could have just six patterns in your fly box, which would they be?
Please send me your list of 6 (or less if you feel confident!) as an offline reply to this email by clicking here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
I'll tally your responses and post the top six in the Fly Patterns section of the new WAFF web site when it debuts in a few weeks.
(* To start out, let's just consider trout patterns for freshwater streams and lakes - not those for steelhead, salmon, or for searun trout fished in salt water. If this poll proves popular, we'll do new polls for those categories later.)
Thanks,
Kent Lufkin
