Comparisons

cdnred

cdnred

Life of the Party
I've seen some of the Realistic Flies for sale and read some comparisons to regular flies. Price being much higher with reports that they're no more effective than a regular fly has me wondering if they're worth trying. Any opinions on the subject..?cap3.JPG
 
I think they may be worth tying just for fun and maybe increase your tying skills but for catching more fish? Not so much.
Tying - maybe
Trying - no
Buying - Hell No
 
Last edited:
I remember seeing hyper-realistic flies in magazines 30 years ago. There is a reason why they haven't caught on and it's not because of price. If realistic flies actually caught more fish, you'd see them all over fly shop bins because people would be buying them. What clinched it for me was studying euro nymphing/competition fly fishing over the last 15 years. The French and Spanish anglers fish over highly pressured fish in tough conditions with non-descript generalist buggy dries and nymphs and still manage to haul in dozens of fish in a few hours.

I would rather fish that "traditional" daddy longlegs. It gives the impression of something alive and moving.
 
Euro-nymphing has pretty clearly demonstrated that realism isn't important, at least not for nymphing. I think realism can, in some circumstances, matter more when it comes to the surface and dry flies. But honestly fishing the right size of fly is more important than the specific of the fly. How pressured a fishery is also matters. The abundance of food also matters--if there's enough food the fish can get picky and just choose to focus on certain things, like maybe just cripples during a big mayfly hatch. That isn't necessarily a realism vs impressionism thing, but the point is that details can matter.

But far and away, you have to fish the fly effectively--I'm thinking here of drag-free drifts. This includes nymphing, which a lot of people don't put together because they think the indicator is doing it all for them. Many fish are generally opportunistic feeders, but they'll 100% notice if your fly isn't acting like the real bugs.
 
We're about at the time of year where I'll put the muddler daddy up there with the GRHE for effectiveness. Works better than foam flies I've tried. I'd call it impressionistic. Fiddly to tie, but worth it!
20240714_muddler_daddy.jpg
 
Last edited:
Another important thing to consider is the water you are fishing. Fishing moving water one can get away with less accurate imitations as the fish has less time to consider the viability of the suspected food item. Stillwater flies get more scrutiny and are less likely to use escapist behavior hence more accurate imitations are the rule of order unless you are trolling.
My personal take on realistic flies for moving water is that sometimes trout can key on specific features and the more of those features you can put on the fly the wider the scope of fish who may be interested in your fly.
 
joefromchicago said:
Another important thing to consider is the water you are fishing. Fishing moving water one can get away with less accurate imitations as the fish has less time to consider the viability of the suspected food item. Stillwater flies get more scrutiny and are less likely to use escapist behavior hence more accurate imitations are the rule of order unless you are trolling.
My personal take on realistic flies for moving water is that sometimes trout can key on specific features and the more of those features you can put on the fly the wider the scope of fish who may be interested in your fly.
Click to expand...
One of the reason I love the Crackleback fly for moving water. Simple to tie, dubbing and hackle color and hook size are the match factors, and it floats well. And it doesn’t look like anything specific. Every time I’ve ever seen a Yellow Sally, the CB always got me a fish.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Zak
Well, do those super fancy dressed steelhead flies catch more fish consistently? No, but people still tie the because they enjoy showcasing their skill as a tier. Perhaps this is similar.
 
Me and one of my fly tying buddies decided to build some model insects ... and they did look really nice. Extended body dry flies, almost an exact match stonefly nymph .... they took a lot of time to build but the results were impressive ....

Except to the fish.

Time and time again a traditional "impressionistic" pattern would get bit more than the model insects. Obviously, fish have no appreciation of realism.... at least none of the ones I fished for.

If you have the skill to tie model insects, be my guest.... but don't plan on catching more fish because of the exact aspects of your patterns. A traditional Adams doesn't look like a genuine bug in the least but still catches a ton of fish.
 
Use a purple chubby during the salmon fly hatch on the D. Doesn't look anything like a salmon fly, They aint purple and they aint chubby. Works great, catches lots of trout. Doesn't answer the question posed but it's an example.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top