“The right fly for the right fish is a #18 Adams with the hackle trimmed on the underside!” How about that for straight forward and to the point? Or if you prefer,….”The right fly for the right fish is anything in your box that is pink.” That was the response I got from Simon Bain in Andros Island. The fact of the matter is, this question is ridiculous. The right fly for the right fish is whatever the damn things are willing to eat at the time, plain and simple. I might add that this can and does change in as little as 15 minutes when fly fishing for trout, but may not change in 15 years for saltwater species. The point is still the same. Maybe only a recovered fly fishing guide like myself can appreciate the poetic simplicity of my answer but here is it anyway, “What’s good today, just might suck tomorrow.”
I once cast to a pod of rising trout for 30 minutes, changing flies about every 5, and never once had a single strike. I tried cripples, emergers, trailing shucks, iridescent, foam bodied flip flops, thingamajiggers, and just about every other thing you can think of and still not one single fish would even look at my fly. Finally I pulled out an on old Madison River midge pattern that was given to me by a guy named Greg Blessing. This little black midge pattern was no more than a piece of black rubber attached to a hook. No fancy wraps, no UV sparkle flash, no spent wing bubble butts, bead heads or googly eyes. Just a hook and a strip of rubber 1/4 inch long. And the fish ate. Fourteen beautiful trout in a row to be exact. I know because I only had one “Prophylactic Midge” in my box and we broke it off in the 14th fish’s mouth. The little black prophylactic midge had saved the day for me and at least for that moment, I was the hero. But here is the painful truth of the matter. I’ve never caught a single trout on that fly since and its not from lack of trying. I’ve cast that fly to hundreds of rising trout and no one wants it. I’ve tried to tie them in different sizes, colors, shapes, with different wraps. You name it, I’ve tried it to make that damn fly work and for the life of me, it was a one hit wonder.
For every great fly you have in your fly box, there are probably 10 “Prophylactic Midges”. These are flies that have worked at some point, but are unlikely to work again. Flies that have been passed over routinely for the newer and more recent additions. These also might include flies that have too big of tails, too small of heads, or too fat of bodies. Flies that are “close” in color, or “”just a bit” too big, or are little over hackled or under dubbed. Whatever their specific deficiency, you have for some reason relegated these misfit flies to the back of the fly box only to come swooping in to save the day when you are truly stumped.
The right fly for the right fish is exactly the question we should be asking I guess. It’s not ridiculous at all to assume that some misfit trout will eat some misfit fly. Maybe there are bone fish swimming around looking for over dubbed, fat, chubby little bait fish. Maybe trout do like the color of belly button lint in their mayfly imitations, or pubic hair in the place of wings on a caddis. Either way, I think it is safe to assume that the right fly for the right fish might simply be whatever you have tied on the end of your line. After all, I’ve been saved by a prophylactic midge, and I bet most other fly fishermen have as well. Fish whatever fly you’ve got, becasue it just might suck tomorrow.