Fly Color? Black!

Black rubber legs 8 days a week.

Swimmy said:

Black rubber legs 8 days a week.

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Hope you have some long ass rubber legs for our tarpon trip swimmy.

Match the hatch sadly is an outdated concept.
Once you start fishing out of a boat matching the hatch doesn't matter it's just about throwing some flashy colorful thing long enough to catch a few fish. News flash trout are stupid and they have to eat. The more visible a fly is the more fish that will see it the more fish you catch.

To each their own. I'll take me elk hair my soft hackles my natural colored parachutes , fish them when i know they will work and be happy with what i catch.
I don't like catching random trout just cause my fly was in the water. If i don't know what's going on along the river i don't deserve to catch a fish.

Rob Allen said:

Match the hatch sadly is an outdated concept.
Once you start fishing out of a boat matching the hatch doesn't matter it's just about throwing some flashy colorful thing long enough to catch a few fish. News flash trout are stupid and they have to eat. The more visible a fly is the more fish that will see it the more fish you catch.

To each their own. I'll take me elk hair my soft hackles my natural colored parachutes , fish them when i know they will work and be happy with what i catch.
I don't like catching random trout just cause my fly was in the water. If i don't know what's going on along the river i don't deserve to catch a fish.

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Not my first rodeo and I do fish from a boat and catch plenty of fish with flashy colors but your condescension is noted.

Penobscot said:

The more I started looking at matching the hatch, either on top or below the surface, the more I noticed most of the bugs I found were black, or a very dark brown.
I've had success with purple, flashbacks, green, etc., but I think I'm short on drys and nymphs in a simple black color.
Any thoughts on this?

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Yup. More success on black. Even my best top water bass bugs, black deer hair catch more fish.

Shape and size, I think, is more important than color.

Rob Allen said:

Match the hatch sadly is an outdated concept.
Once you start fishing out of a boat matching the hatch doesn't matter it's just about throwing some flashy colorful thing long enough to catch a few fish. News flash trout are stupid and they have to eat. The more visible a fly is the more fish that will see it the more fish you catch.

To each their own. I'll take me elk hair my soft hackles my natural colored parachutes , fish them when i know they will work and be happy with what i catch.
I don't like catching random trout just cause my fly was in the water. If i don't know what's going on along the river i don't deserve to catch a fish.

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What if you accidently catch a mayfly sipping fish when you have an elk hair caddis on? Oh the humanity!

Black works.

Black is the best color, in most conditions for the almighty....profile.

Penobscot said:

Not my first rodeo and I do fish from a boat and catch plenty of fish with flashy colors but your condescension is noted.

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There was no condescension.
There is nothing wrong with search fishing. That's just not how i like to fish.
When you are search fishing the pattern matters less.
I prefer fishing hatches that's all.

I also don't use royal wulffs either for the same reason even though it's a great pattern.

Rob Allen said:

Match the hatch sadly is an outdated concept.

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You know this how?

Your being wrong would be more tolerable if you stated it as opinion and not fact.

I would say you can't honestly say with 100% certainty a fish takes an elk hair caddis as a caddis...

And how is it that you know that you are matching the hatch when you catch a fish with that EHC? How do you know the fish weren't feeding on something sub surface at the time and just ate your EHC cause it was something that looked interesting and edible?

An EHC is as much of an attractor pattern as a flashy streamer. Just because us fly tyers know it as a caddis doesn't mean a damn thing in the grand scheme of things.

If a fish is sipping emergers but then eats your EHC do you shake it off so as not to land such a fish?

Rob Allen said:

There was no condescension.
There is nothing wrong with search fishing. That's just not how i like to fish.
When you are search fishing the pattern matters less.
I prefer fishing hatches that's all.

I also don't use royal wulffs either for the same reason even though it's a great pattern.

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Since I fish almost exclusively out a craft all I gotta do is throw flash? Hopefully you were talking about streams, but even then I ain't buying it. Since I am still stuck on stage two of fly fishing (you know, catching the most or at least having the most action I can), I fish with what ever fly accomplishes that end and when I catch a extremely gullible fish, like say when my back cast hits the water and fish takes the damsel dry and I set the hook hard with my casting stroke, I chuckle. Solving a riddle of the hatch, or even non hatch, is extremely satisfying, having a "aha" moment is cool, sadly I have more "oh shit' moments. One must not speak ill of another mans fishing style, um um um, unless of course he is out fishing you..

Someone is obviously chironomid stupid, because it is 100% about matching the hatch.

Otherwise you're one of the guys in a boat, 60' away from the guys catching fish every 30 seconds, wondering what you're doing wrong.

Rob Allen said:

I prefer fishing hatches that's all.

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So if there are no hatches, do you simply not fish?

Swimmy said:

Black rubber legs 8 days a week.

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Black nylon legs sound better.

Probably my most productive single fly is a smallish (14-18) soft hackle made from a few turns of peacock herl and a starling collar. It comes off black in the water, but also has just that little bit of green iridescence that says "Insect!" I put it among my black flies, anyway.

Trying to remember, what color was a Teeny Nymph? One of the older, more productive nymph patterns ever. Stillwater fishing, the deeper I fish the darker the color.

Match the hatch-don't match the hatch and throw flash. To each his own. The most gratifying fishing for me is when I am dialed in to a hatch (and proper technique!) and the fish are willing to accept my creation at an alarming rate. Is this not why we create instead of tossing out worms or power bait?