stonefly tails - alternatives

[pokerfish]

Any body have feedback on stonefly tails using other than a swack of elk/deer?

I have been replacing the bunch of hair on some nymphs (hares ear) and on my adams, with some success.  and I like how they look. they fish as comparatively.

 I tied some stones with biots and they look good, '

Anybody have on water experience they care to share.

 

Thanks.

 

Tom

[Dangus]

I just tie round rubber leg material in for the tails on wet/dry stones.  Also have done moose mane. Less integrity with that though. Have used biots as well.

Not following about the hair on adams?

 

 

[pokerfish]

When I was in Kamloops, commonly tied the adams dry with a deer hair tail.  sparser than the stonefly, but same style.   I liked the floatation and wide body that the deer gave it, but like the look of cdl, moose mane or even partridge.

Any huge difference in how the stones fish?

 

[SilverDoctor]

Moose Body hair is really nice because its tough and seems to stand up for me through a few trout. Short deer hair is also a good option, but I usually look for short hair from the neck which dosn't flair as much. I was also contemplating using flex or rubber legs.

[BurningChrome]

The only stonefly nymph I tie is a variation on Pat's rubber legs, so I use Life-Flex for the legs, antennae, and tails. 

[pokerfish]

Thanks guys.

I wasnt clear in my first post, I was looking at the replacing the deer/elk in a stimulator pattern.

 

[BurningChrome]

1 hour ago, pokerfish said:

Thanks guys.

I wasnt clear in my first post, I was looking at the replacing the deer/elk in a stimulator pattern.

 

I think you could still go with short rubber legs or spanflex/life-flex type stuff. If you stretch them when you tie them down they shouldn't add any more bulk than deer hair. Should be more durable than biots too.

[danhunt]

For me, the elk/moose/deer tail on a stimmy seems to be more of a secondary source of floatation rather than a part of the insect its intending to imitate.  I have tried a pattern with biots tied front and rear and rubber legs in the thorax, I think it was called a terranasty or something like that?  I fished it on the Castle and found that the cutties there seemed to prefer a standard pattern.  YMMV, happy tying.

[Flyfisher]

My experience with stimies:  high and dry, the higher they float in the meniscus the better they work.

Quote

 

 

[pokerfish]

Interesting observation Flyfisher.   About 4 years ago, I changed all my stimmies by clipping off all the hackle on the underside to make it float lower in the film.  I felt that my strike ratio about doubled, but as you know, that can be a very subjective statistic.

 

Anybody else have thoughts on this.

 

[Dangus]

44 minutes ago, pokerfish said:

Interesting observation Flyfisher.   About 4 years ago, I changed all my stimmies by clipping off all the hackle on the underside to make it float lower in the film.  I felt that my strike ratio about doubled, but as you know, that can be a very subjective statistic.

 

Anybody else have thoughts on this.

 

Depends on someone’s experience. IMO if you are newer and can’t mend as well, dry flies sink. High floating flies help compensate for that. 

If you watch stones, they sit low on the water.  So I do as poker does/ most of my stones are foam body anyways.   They sit in the film rather than on top.

I let stones sink a bit if I can’t mend the seam well.  Fish still eat them.  Have been broken off by freight trains doing it that way. Mind you, that’s mostly at dusk/dark.

[flywiz]

not much of a fan of thickly hackled flies as a general rule whether wet emergers or dry

 

i think sparser flies get more snouts

[flywiz]

body thickness is an issue too, ive had refusals on 1/2" wide chernobyls on the bow, only to have the same fish take a 3/8" wide stone pattern ( at 9am)

[keet]

An alternate material I use is poly yarn or MFC Widow's Web for stimmie tails.  If I use poly yarn I also comb out the tail.