Why use a fancy stone fly pattern

PGH Kid.
 
Its all dependent on the resident trout that you are fishing for.  Yes, for day old stockies that live in stonefly infested water, a black hares ear, phesant tail, or copper john will do the trick in riffles....Stoneflies are usually winter/spring hatch, so what about the selective brown trout that retreat to the bottom of slow deep holes in the winter that wait for one of the stoneflies that get dislodged in the riffles to pass through thier slow water pool?  They have as long as they need to make a decision wether or not to take the fly, so you had better be precise or you will be nothing but frustrated.  Carry an assortment of colors and sizes with you as stones that are huge in the spring usually will be size 16-18 nymphs in the winter.  Your best bet is to familiarize yourself with some stonefly taxonomy (Art Flicks Streamside Guide is a good one) in order to narrow down your fly selection/size/pattern. 

As far as bottom bouncing nymps, yes this is certainly the technique that is best fished effectively for trout/salmon/steelhead.  It's all dependent on shot placement, whether or not you are actually "high sticking" and the current of the bottom. Chances are you are snagging up because you simply have too much weight on.  What I would do If I were you is get into the dust shot if you havent already.  Lemar Super Doux or Dinsinmore shot dispensers will carry all the weight you need to get and keep your fly in the strike zone.  Taper your shot up your leader from largest at the top to smallest at the bottom.  Also if you are using beads this can have a factor too.  Tungsten beads are a great innovation, but save your tungsten flies for when you have to get to the bottom of a fast knee deep riffle or a big meaty run that's over 5 feet.  It will sink like it has cement shoes on, so therefore you wont need as much shot to straighten out your drift.  Shot placement/removal/adding, keeping about 5 feet of fly line below your rod tip when drifting, and a stout florusecent butt for a strike indicator are key steps to success when you are bottom bouncing but once you master this technique you will realize that it will account for more fish than any other method. Hope this helps.

thanks quietman,
I quess that is where the confussion on my part has been. Since I have been tying small sizes 16/18/20 nymphs I could not see the reason for all of the detail.

When tying the larger sizes I can see the reason for it.

Are you tying size 8 and 10 for steelhead only? if so ehat other sizes are you using?

pgh kid, stoneflies live in the riffles but prior to hatching migrate to the shallows. that's why you see stonefly shucks near shore. stoneflies will crawl to shore and fly off from there, so it's a good idea to have some "good looking" patterns for these times fishing in slower water. ~dt

PGH Kid,
 
The more closely your pattern matches what the trout are feeding on, the better your chances of catching fish, or catching more fish.  (Of course, with fishing, this does not always stand true.)
 
A trout can pick out midge larvae in "white water" riffles. What are the chances they can see the legs on a stonefly, which more often than not, are bigger than the midge itself? Pretty darn good.
 
For a simple, but semi realistic stonefly pattern, tie the Kaufmann's Stone. It will be a top producer for you, and to make it more realistic, simply add legs.
 
 
Best,
Michael Foreman

PGH Kid,
     I recently did an experiment (which I posted here under Art Flies) where I fished a stretch of creek with a standard stone fly, and then went back and fished the same stretch with a very nicely tied stone fly.  I had 3x the number of strikes on the Art Fly.  My advice is the better the fly the more success.  However there is a BIG BUT with using expensive flies, how many do you normally loose in a days fishing?  At 10-15 bucks a pop it can get expensive pretty quickly.

Hehehe, just for giggles...
 
The genuine article- http://www.randallkaufmann.com/Stones.htm
 
Try not to snag 'em.
 

They're just for display. Heck, I would feel bad about even getting one of those wet.
 
 

I realize they are for display, but is one of his flies really worth that much.  They are not that intricate of flies.  If I were in to collecting I think I would just pick up salmon flies, those are works of art.  Oh well I guess some people want to pay $700 for a dozen stoneflies to put in a case, just not my thing.

ORIGINAL: quietman



Do they come with an autograph? Assuming $2.00 fly, that is a 3,500% increase. Do these guys really have that sort of folowing?

 
I don't know if they do have that kind of a following.  I would believe that Wulff and LaFontaine could, but not Kauffman, I wouldn't think anyway.  Who knows though, people buy all kinds of weird stuff.

PGH Kid,
 
A standard #8 Golden Kauffman's stone will get you by incredibly well from June - August. During the other portions of trout season there are numerous hatches that focus MOST of the trout's attention on something else.
 
 
Best,
Michael Foreman