The following content is part of our Fly of the Month Club. This article is written by Peter Stitcher from Ascent Fly Fishing.
Fear not, your fly fishing therapists from Ascent Fly Fishing are here to bring financial harmony to you and your significant other.
With a handful of Sharpie markers and a few key fly patterns, you can multiply your fly selection without stepping a foot back in the fly shop. Welcome to Paint by Number Fly Fishing!
Fly patterns with light dubbing or thread bodies and white wings or tails are like a blank canvas for the innovative fly fisher willing to think outside of the fly box. With a few key fly patterns such as the Beadhead Flashback Hares Ear, Light Cahill, Parachute PMD, Buckskin, Miracle Midge and White Mercury Midge you can match any mayfly and midge with some creative coloring and a few permanent Sharpie markers. Equipped with red, orange, green, brown, and black markers you can quickly turn a Parachute PMD into a Red Quill, a Light Cahill into a Hair Wing Green Drake, a Gold Ribbed Hares Ear into a Damsel Fly larva, and a Miracle Midge into one of the nearly 17,000 midges found in our waters.
Here are the 3 steps to help you Paint by Number and multiply your fly selection:
1. Collect a sample of the bugs in and around the water you are fishing.
2. Match the size and profile of the natural insect with the closest “Blank Canvas” fly patterns in your box.
3. Use different sharpies to color the wings, body, legs and tail to match.
We’ve all heard that the pen is mightier than the sword. Well, for the creative fly fisher the pen can also be mightier than the (fly) vice!
Here are a couple of our favorite “Blank Canvas” fly patterns that you can use your sharpies on to match the hatch…
Beadhead Flashback Hare’s Ear
Sizes: 10-22
Families Imitated: Mayfly, Stonefly, Damselfly
Life Cycles Imitated: Nymph, Larva
Best Sharpie Colors: Black, Brown, Green, Grey, Purple, Yellow
Light Cahill
Sizes: 12-22
Families Imitated: Mayfly, Midges
Life Cycles Imitated: Mayfly Dun or Spinner, Adult Midge
Best Sharpie Colors: Black, Brown, Green, Grey, Pink, Purple, Yellow
Parachute PMD
Sizes: 12-22
Families Imitated: Mayfly, Midges
Life Cycles Imitated: Mayfly Dun or Spinner, Adult Midge
Best Sharpie Colors: Black, Brown, Green, Grey, Pink, Purple, Yellow
Buckskin
Sizes: 12-20
Families Imitated: Caddisflies, Midges
Life Cycles Imitated: Larva
Best Sharpie Colors: Black, Brown, Green, Red, Orange, Yellow
Miracle Midge
Sizes: 20-24
Families Imitated: Midges
Life Cycles Imitated: Larva
Best Sharpie Colors: Black, Brown, Green, Grey, Red, Orange, Blue
Mercury Midge (white)
Sizes: 20-24
Families Imitated: Midges
Life Cycles Imitated: Larva
Best Sharpie Colors: Black, Brown, Green, Grey, Red, Orange, Blue
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