Favorite Simple Dry Flies for Mountain Streams

[Bajema]

I’m needing to restock my fly box for mountain streams. Typically where I’m fishing the trout don’t seem to be to picky, so I like to just focus on patterns that are easier to tie. Historically I’ve tied and fished a lot of CDC & Elk Caddis because it’s simple to tie and catches fish. What are your favorite simple dry fly patterns for catching trout on mountain streams?

 

[Stonedfish]

X-Caddis
SF

 

[Buzzy]

Goddard caddis, Royal Wulff are my two favorites.

 

[Tom Butler]

Renegade. Quite simple, simply effective.
http://flytyingnewandold.blogspot.com/search?q=renegade

 

[iveofione]

I agree that the CDC caddis and X-caddis are great patterns and I use them both but a heavily hackled parachute Adams with a white wing post is equally effective and can be seen a lot better in broken water.

 

[Josh]

No idea how easy it is to tie, but a Stimulator has caught me a ton of fish those creeks. Same with Royal Wulff (though I suspect those are more complicated).

 

[Zak]

Muddler

Usual

Bivisible

 

[RCF]

Humpy - easy to tie and float like a bobber

 

[Cabezon]

I like black ants, especially for small streams with lots of brush. They are a solid mid-day choice.
I also like small stimulators (big meal in a small stream) and cdc and elk-hair patterns for their bugginess.
Steve

 

[Stonedfish]

Should also have added black foam beetle to my first reply. Super way to tie.
SF

 

[FinLuver]

Stimulators… Micheal T’s Percolators… Ants

I’m pretty partial to one particular one, I recently shared in a PNWFFF thread.

 

[mcswny]

Fished a Yellow Humpy yesterday on a 4 foot wide creek and it was a blast.

 

[RCF]

As indicated earlier I love humpies. Tan, red, olive or yellow all work well. Just need to figure the color they are keyed into.

Polyester yarn body, hair back and tail with lots of hackle are so easy to tie. Floats like a cork too. To have a lower profile just clip a V into the hackle. Very versatile for sure...

Sort of a forgotten pattern but work oh so well. My go to fly when I am not sure what works. Great attractor fly for sure...

 

[Mike Cline]

The Skinny Humpy | J Stockard Fly Fishing

I can claim no credit for the name as other tiers have coined the name “Skinny Humpy” for sparsely tied Humpies. As we all know the Humpy is a popular fly, especially for fast pocket water.

blog.jsflyfishing.com

 

[Josh]

Sort of a forgotten pattern but work oh so well. My go to fly when I am not sure what works. Great attractor fly for sure...

It's interesting,I virtually never use humpys. I should give them another go.

 

[Stonedfish]

As mentioned, humpies are a good fly but lack some durability in my opinion as the hair backs tend to get torn up after multiple fish. They’ll still catch fish when torn up but as an alternative I like to use a foam back for better durability and ease of tying while still using a hair tail.
Just another option you might consider.
SF

 

[Chadk]

EHC are super easy and pretty universal. Put a little white or high vis foam on the back to help with visibility. Royal wolf has been my go to for ever, but not super easy to tie compared to some others. They ride high and dry and can be seen easily.

 

[Wetswinger]

Elkhair caddis. Easy to tie. Foam beetle or ant. Ditto. Renegade.

 

[John Svahn]

Wright's Royal. Works as a carpenter ant, caddis, and everything else. I fish em upstream as a dry, then I turn around and fish em downstream as a wet. Not hard to tie either and uses common materials on regular hooks.

 

[Tom Butler]

I don't consider the humpy an easy tie. My Adams aren't great either. I can do elk hair caddis and renegades well enough. Those are really the only 4 I fish much. I fish ants in the film so don't consider them a dry necessarily. Last summer I was having more luck with a muddler dry, then wet, than any other hopper imitation, but that was below what I consider a mountain stream.