A few years ago a local shop was blowing out some flies. When I asked why I was told that they were "old patterns" that nobody wanted. I fished and continue to fish some of those patterns so I stocked up. Flies like the Adams, hare's ear, and wooly bugger still catch lots of fish all over the place and they've been around for a while so there's no reason these sale flies would suddenly stop working.

But this got me thinking about some other classic flies, namely soft hackles (including spiders and flymphs). I don't see many of them in fly bins at most shops and even a quick look at some manufacturer sites shows a lack of options.

The good news is a lot of these flies are quick, simple, and sparse ties. Don't even worry about hunting down fancy silk thread and partridge skins - your 8/0 tying thread and an India hen back or Brahma hen saddle work fine along with other materials you probably already have like peacock herl and hare's ear dubbing. And they're versatile flies. You can swing them, dead drift them in the film, or even gink them up and fish them upstream like a dry.

Give em a shot this year when the fish aren't looking up and you're tired of staring at a bobber, you won't be disappointed.

Thanks so much marc for sharing your experiences with us. Marc and I have had plenty of good days together on the river, including one day of a flying ant hatch when Marc was kinda “done” by lunch.