Welcome to NEFF

Sign up for a new account today, or log on with your old account!
Register

Give us a try!

Welcome back to the new NEFF. Take a break from Twitter and Facebook. You don't go to Dicks for your fly fishing gear, you go to your local fly fishing store. Enjoy!

Flies for a Beginner for NJ Rivers

O

Ober51

is happy every day she's around.
The other thread on flies for a decent cost got me thinking. Along with reading Matt G's book I have been reading as much as I can about flies and what I'll need for the rivers in NJ. For me, just starting out, what will I need (in addition to the great flies you all here at NEFF sent me) for the rivers in NJ?

If you guys could provide a bunch of standard nymphs, emergers, drys, etc. that will work across most NJ streams and rivers, it would be a huge help.

How many will I need for a typical year? Will this number decrease because of casting ability, or grow because I am gaining in knowledge and will want more in my box?

Basically, what exactly will I need to fish NJ's waterways all season long, and how many of each? I know this is a hard number, but I just don't know if I will need to buy some more in addition to those I already have. Assume I have ZERO flies right now, what do I need? This very well may be posted somewhere else, and I just missing it. If so, forgive me.

Thanks, guys.
 
I think you said it right there... You have Matt's book, can't do any better than that.

If you send me the book and $29.95 (plus S&H) I might be able to get him to autograph it for you.

However, if that doesn't work out, I will return the book, but I will have to keep the money.

That offer goes for anyone else out there in NEFF land.
 
AKSkim said:
I think you said it right there... You have Matt's book, can't do any better than that.

If you send me the book and $29.95 (plus S&H) I might be able to get him to autograph it for you.

However, if that doesn't work out, I will return the book, but I will have to keep the money.

That offer goes for anyone else out there in NEFF land.
Click to expand...

Ha, Matt's book has been awesome to read. So there is plenty of information there, that's for sure. How about the number of flies? For guys like you AK, do you purchase in bulk before the season begins, or tye in bulk, like say 300 for the season, 400, etc?
 
Ober51 said:
Ha, Matt's book has been awesome to read. So there is plenty of information there, that's for sure. How about the number of flies? For guys like you AK, do you purchase in bulk before the season begins, or tye in bulk, like say 300 for the season, 400, etc?
Click to expand...

Ober:

I tie all my own flies.

I find it very relaxing when I sit at my tying desk.

Pure enjoyment.

Then I'll come on here and beat up on that klg nitwit... just for the fun of it.

So, when you hear that croaking sound while in KLG.. its just me squeezing the living daylights out of that cementhead.
 
AKSkim said:
I think you said it right there... You have Matt's book, can't do any better than that.

If you send me the book and $29.95 (plus S&H) I might be able to get him to autograph it for you.

However, if that doesn't work out, I will return the book, but I will have to keep the money.

That offer goes for anyone else out there in NEFF land.
Click to expand...

Ober51 - I'll send you a genuine copy of Matt's signature plus a copy of mine for half that cost. You wouldn't have to part with your book for any length of time. BUT WAIT, that's not all! If you act now I'll double that offer*, *just pay shipping and handling. If you pay by credit card you will be automatically entered into our "Signature-of-the-month" club. You can cancel at any time providing you pay a canceation fee...plus shipping and handling...again
 
AKSkim said:
Ober:

I tie all my own flies.

I find it very relaxing when I sit at my tying desk.

Pure enjoyment.

Then I'll come on here and beat up on that klg nitwit... just for the fun of it.

So, when you hear that croaking sound while in KLG.. its just me squeezing the living daylights out of that cementhead.
Click to expand...

AK - you are the next best thing to sliced bread....and almost as smart.
 
AKSkim said:
Ober:

I tie all my own flies.
Click to expand...
Yeah... this doesn't count as tying your own.

fliesonshit-1.gif
 
Cleaver (NOT), ...you remind me of a slinky...serves no useful purpose, but still brings a smile to my face when it is push it down a flight of stairs.

:rofl:
 
Ober,

If you work from Matt's book you will have a good list of what you need for each stream by looking at the hatch charts. I always had atleast 4-6 of each fly per size. And colors variations too. Yes the number will go up. You will end up with multpile boxes. Drys,Nymphs,Streamers,Attracters Trout, Bass, NY,NJ and so on. The best will be the Steelhead box...

Hllywd
 
Hllywd76 said:
Ober,

If you work from Matt's book you will have a good list of what you need for each stream by looking at the hatch charts. I always had atleast 4-6 of each fly per size. And colors variations too. Yes the number will go up. You will end up with multpile boxes. Drys,Nymphs,Streamers,Attracters Trout, Bass, NY,NJ and so on. The best will be the Steelhead box...

Hllywd
Click to expand...

Ok, great, this was what I was wondering. So around 4-6 per fly per size. So how many do you think a beginner should carry? Wow, I can really see how these add up. Now I kind of understand why people swap out their fly boxes like Richardson and Downs etc.
 
Ober,

In general you want more nymphs (of the same pattern) then dries. You lose a ton of nymphs on the bottom. Now my dry fly patterns are much more varied (tons of different patterns and sizes). Carry a few general streamers.
PM me for an actual list, it may help me to see what's left to tie for this season.

Some companies, Orvis for example put together a box of all around trout flies, JCStikfish I believe has a collection just for NJ, and one just for the Gorge, from his site.

PM for a detailed list if you want. Tight lines.
 
Ober51 said:
Ok, great, this was what I was wondering. So around 4-6 per fly per size. So how many do you think a beginner should carry? Wow, I can really see how these add up. Now I kind of understand why people swap out their fly boxes like Richardson and Downs etc.
Click to expand...

yeah you can never have too many flies, lots of guys only carry what they expect to use and leave the rest in a big box in the truck. I carry with me an assortment of everything (although I must admit there no need to be carrying sulphurs and Hendricksons in February)
 
Burtbords149 said:
Ober,

In general you want more nymphs (of the same pattern) then dries. You lose a ton of nymphs on the bottom. Now my dry fly patterns are much more varied (tons of different patterns and sizes). Carry a few general streamers.
PM me for an actual list, it may help me to see what's left to tie for this season.

Some companies, Orvis for example put together a box of all around trout flies, JCStikfish I believe has a collection just for NJ, and one just for the Gorge, from his site.

PM for a detailed list if you want. Tight lines.
Click to expand...

Most of what a trout eats is underwater, near the bottom. So why carry any dries? Because dry fly fishing is exciting, easy to detect hits and when they are feeding topwater, they are may not take anything along the bottom.

Buy flies a little at a time. I use to buy 5-10 flies on every visit to the river, always picking up something from the local fly shop, from what is currently in the water and almost always mostly sub-surface flies.
 
Ober,

You have all the flys you should need for this year...unless you've sold the flys I/we sent you.

What you need to do now is fish. Try out your different flys and learn to identify them. When you find a fly that works, figure out what it is (by name), look to see how many you have left, and if you only have a few buy some more. I think I sent you a pic of your fly boxes with the names of you flys to help you identify them. They are all good sizes and flys for our NJ, PA, and NY streams.

Hang on to your money for future fly fishing needs. Trust me, there will be many.

Cdog
 
Corndog said:
Ober,

You have all the flys you should need for this year...unless you've sold the flys I/we sent you.

What you need to do now is fish. Try out your different flys and learn to identify them. When you find a fly that works, figure out what it is (by name), look to see how many you have left, and if you only have a few buy some more. I think I sent you a pic of your fly boxes with the names of you flys to help you identify them. They are all good sizes and flys for our NJ, PA, and NY streams.

Hang on to your money for future fly fishing needs. Trust me, there will be many.

Cdog
Click to expand...

Thanks, CDog. I guess I have an addictive personality, because when I get bit I get bit hard. I appreciate the detailed pictures - and I even took digital pictures of the fly boxes and used face recognition software to tag them individually so that I can look them up on my computer, haha. But I will heed your advice.
 
Ober - here's the dirty little secret about addictive FF. You can NEVER have enough flies. You saw what I bring on the water. Think I had 5 boxes in my vest and that does not include my specialty boxes of dries like my Hendricksons or Drakes or Sulphurs for obvious reasons. And I NEVER have the correct fly even with all of those. So you run home and spend a couple hours at the tying bench after the family is asleep only to find the same problem the next day. :dizzy:

Keep half a dozen of your go-to patterns at all times. It's easy with nymphs to break off 4 or 5 (or more) each outing. For dries, make sure you have at least a few in each size for that insect. BWOs are the widest size range of our mayflies because that one fly will cover multiple insects. You'll need Olives from size 12 to size 24.

Then, of course, there are the emergers....another lesson for another day.:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

J
Absolute Beginner - Few Quick Questions
Replies
18
Views
9K
dcabarle
dcabarle
J
Absolute Beginner – Few quick questions
Replies
0
Views
874
Joeblowv1
J
G
Fly rod for NJ rivers
2
Replies
35
Views
12K
Gregorio
G
flyI4
Early season streamer fishing
Replies
3
Views
4K
flyI4
flyI4
P
Salmon on the Brain
Replies
20
Views
7K
Future Fanatic
Future Fanatic
Back
Top