It’s not much, but I’ve come a fair way with my fly box and it’s now getting close to a 50:50 mix of commercial and self-tied flies.
From the top: a rank of commercial kebaris, including TUSA Ishigaki Kebaris, then two supplied by TenkaraBum with the kid’s starter set (red one = dunno; other = another variation of an Ishigaki Kebari), then two TUSA Takayama Kebaris.
Second rank includes the few dries I have, all bought from the local outdoors shop, Elk Hair Caddises and (I think) Blue Winged Olives.
Next a rank of entirely self-tied killer bugs, following the TenkaraBum instructions.
Then a rank of nymphs. First a pathetic, scrawny self-tied first attempt at a Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear, which nevertheless was good enough for a few biggish chub last trip. The rest are store-bought GRHE, Pheasant Tail, Copper John, and Beadhead Prince.
Then a rank of Utah killer bugs, tied according to the Jason Klass style.
Then more kebari. First a grim attempt at a Stewart Black Spider. Starling 1, MarginalTenkara 0. Then some home tied attempts at Amano Kebaris mixed with a half dozen purchased from TUSA.
A couple more home atrocities plus a first attempt at a killer kebari (haven’t fished it yet).
Then some store bought and home tied woolly buggers, a home tied weighted squirmy wormy (caught some creek chub on the last trip), and three home tied killer buggers (worked great on chub and shiners on the last trip, haven’t tried them yet in likely trout situations, still have more confidence with the storebought woolly buggers).
James’s fly box hosts a few other things, mainly fine chenille San Juan Worms, that haven’t shown much in limited airings so far.
For general use, nothing compares to the TenkaraBum style killer bug. When I caught 180 in a day, I had one of these (self-tied) and it was attacked until it unravelled. The Utah killer bug is next, though it may be just as effective – I think it’s small sample size, but I have caught both browns and brookies on a UKB, but have yet to manage a trout on a regular killer bug. The Amano Kebaris, once I got confidence in them, are very effective (and they caught the first three trout on my first day fishing in Iowa). I’ve caught multiple brook trout and browns on them. They don’t seem quite as effective as killer bugs at hauling out cyprinids cast after cast. As I got back into it, woolly buggers seemed like they would be a favourite. They are very effective for dragging through large deep pools for larger trout and for trout in general. They’re okay for cyprinids – creek chub will attack them, but common shiners will mostly stay away. I haven’t really given traditional nymphs a chance. It seems the cyprinids will hit any of them much like the killer bugs. I don’t think I have the patience to dredge deep pools with them, though the one day I made an effort I hooked trout twice during the mid-day doldrums, both times by waiting for the fly to reach bottom then doing a gentle lift, though I didn’t manage to land either. Both were on a Copper John.
What I really feel the need to add: a decent assortment of small mayfly and attractor dries, particularly Royal Coachman and Adams in a range of sizes; a whole bunch of terrestrials: hoppers, ants, and beetles, as the height of summer will soon be here; and a bunch of midges, both nymphs, wets, and dries. I’m trying to learn to tie true streamers, starting with Mickey Finns, in an effort to find the most effective thing to drag through the big, slow pools.