Much as I try pheasant tails and prince nymphs they haven't become "confidence flies" for me. Hare's ear variants or Walt's tend to be my go to. And I don't think about all that time I spent aligning goose biots when I lose a Walt's. :D
I spent some time fiddling with high quality Japanese waterstones, and eventually fell back on using the Sharpmaker. I use it for both my Spyderco knives and kitchen knives, and I like it because it's just too easy. Less worrying about the angles, much less fiddling to set up, harder to make...