Flies you've taken OUT of your rotation.

[Driftless Dan]

A fly which was first among equals when I started fishing was the Spruce. I used it to great effect along with a tied down caddis buck for resident and searun cutties in the Nehalem watershed. I literally ONLY used those two flies for the first 2-3 years I fly fished.

Since moving to the Driftless Area, I've never caught a fish with a Spruce fly, and maybe a couple with that TD caddis. I've stopped carrying them in my fly box.

 

[PhilR]

I went on a major clean out and reorganization over the holidays. Threw out a lot of flies that were too poorly tied to donate. Got rid of all the musky flies I tied in my first two years chasing. I put a lot of PTs and prince nymphs in the storage box - I'll probably never fish a prince nymph again.

 

[EB590]

First it was egg patterns, then eventually all nymphs, then it was anything with cdc. Now, when I think about it I haven't tied a dry fly with hackle in 2 or 3 years.

95% of my ties are variations of comparaduns with either snowshoe hare or deer hair, variations of muddler minnows, and conehead zonker strip streamers. The other 5% are big ass 6-10 xl long stimulators for the little time I get fishing during stonefly or hopper hatches.

I do fish ants and tricos with hackle once in a while but I have enough of those tied to last for a few more years.

 

[Zak]

95% of my ties are variations of comparaduns with either snowshoe hare or deer hair, variations of muddler minnows, [. . .] I do fish ants

Man after my own heart.

 

[Brian in OR.]

I've mentioned this before, but I've pretty much given up on Prince and PT nymphs. I know others swear by them. I don't know if it's my ties, the fish around here, or what, but something else is always better.

Tom don’t give up on the Prince I fish an unweighted pattern behind a leech for lake fishing. It’s my go to set up.

 

[Matt B]

Tom don’t give up on the Prince I fish an unweighted pattern behind a leech for lake fishing. It’s my go to set up.

Brian, what are you doing? Shhh, let the Prince go out of vogue, that’s great. Flood the Zone. The Prince Nymph sucks. Doesn’t catch fish. Never Did, actually. I feel sorry for people who still have to fish them, really I do.

 

[mcswny]

I really need to do this. Especially to my streamer box.
First to go: Wool heads.

 

[RCF]

All trout nymphs. I just do all my trout fishing around hatches. My catch rates have gone up dramatically. I just don't do any searching anymore.

Do not know how to fish nymphs? Just kidding---> sorta. My BIL is so much better than me fishing nymphs. I luv fishing a dry e.g humpy, terrestrial, or EHC, with a dropper. Works very well for me. IMHO dropper catches more fish. I am learning to fish emergers more recently. Looks promising...

 

[SKYKO]

I've rotated so many out to the handful of buddies I fish with they won't take any more, I need to find new outlets for my semi well executed ties. I always seem to be focused on production and Thru put when I tie over quality of construction. It's like a curse even when I focus on slowing down it lasts for maybe one tie then I'm hauling ass again cranking out semi OK stuff. To be fair they do seem to catch fish but I need to break that habit. Even now I'm sitting here waiting for daylight to swing with probably 40 patterns in the wallet and I'll likely fish a couple this morning, I think I've gone crazy with the tying but I sure enjoy it.

 

[clarkman]

I don't even wanna think about my trout boxes.

 

[FinLuver]

I don't even wanna think about my trout boxes.

You “actually” have some?
Who knew…

 

[Buggerbob]

I can still see the 18s and 20s but anything smaller, gone. Just need to pitch those size hooks in my hook box. Where the hell did I get those 24s?? Gone.

 

[Kfish]

Many fistful’s of flies in this can, I’m not going to open it since it’s hard to get them all back in
Didn’t look right, didn’t fish right, didn’t know what I was thinking at the time.