Flies from our box: egg, nymph, popper, hopper, streamer and worm

A fly box can look like a jumble of fuzz, feathers and foam, but every fly is trying to be one of a few things. Some copy a real food, such as an insect larva, a worm or a minnow. Others only trigger a bite with a shape, a color or a splash. Flies range from a few millimeters to about 30 centimeters long, and most are between 1 and 5 centimeters. A useful way to sort them is by where they ride: on the surface, just under it, or near the bottom. These six are from our own box. Pair them with the fly outfit guide and the fly hook guide.

On the surface: poppers and hoppers

A popper has a blunt or cupped face that pushes water when you pull it, so it splashes and makes a noise like something hurt on top of the water. That draws fish from a distance. Ours are foam, with painted eyes, rubber legs and a feather tail. To fish one, cast it near cover, then let it sit for a few seconds. Then give it short pulls to pop it, pausing between pulls while you take up the slack, and repeat. When a fish takes it, wait a moment for the fish to close its mouth on the fly before you set the hook. Poppers are mostly bass and panfish flies, which makes them a natural fit for Texas ponds and lakes.

Two foam poppers

Yellow popper: A bright body is easy to see on the water. The legs and tail add motion when it sits still.
White popper: The same idea in white, which reads differently against the sky.

A hopper copies a large land insect, such as a grasshopper, that has fallen into the water. Ours has a foam body, which floats on its own, a tan hair wing, rubber legs and a bright foam patch on top. The patch is for you: it helps you see the fly from a distance. A hopper sits higher and lands harder than a small dry fly, so use a heavier leader (see the fly outfit guide). Many anglers hang a small nymph on a short piece of tippet tied to the bend of the hopper, so one cast covers the surface and just below it.

Foam hopper: A segmented foam body, a hair wing and rubber legs, like a grasshopper kicking on the surface.

Below the surface: nymphs, eggs and worms

A nymph imitates the larva or pupa of an aquatic insect, the form most of those insects spend most of their lives in. Ours is a small dark fly with a gold bead, a body wrapped in copper wire and a short tail. The bead is both weight and flash. You fish a nymph near the bottom with a dead drift, letting the current carry it at the speed of the water, so it looks like a natural larva tumbling along. The usual rig is a strike indicator on the leader, a few feet above the fly. If you do not get bites, change the depth first.

Bead-head nymph: A brass bead gets it down. The copper rib adds segmentation and strength.

An egg fly is a soft ball of yarn that copies a drifting fish egg. Trout feed on drifting eggs during spawning runs, so these flies are fished the same way as a nymph: cast upstream, let it sink, and let it drift near the bottom with the line slack so it is not dragged. One guide ties its egg flies on hooks from size 8 to 12, and uses bright colors in stained water and natural peach and orange shades in clear water. Our box has them in chartreuse, red and purple. Bright eggs are also just an attention-getting round fly, so they sometimes work when no spawn is on. Check TPWD's rules for the water, since some waters limit what you can fish.

Egg fly: A ball of yarn on a short hook, with a white veil that gives it a soft outline.
Egg flies in a box: Each color is a choice for different water: bright in stained water, natural shades in clear water.

A chenille worm fly copies an aquatic worm, or an earthworm washed into the stream after a rain. A worm has no wings and no legs to tie, so it is one of the simplest flies, and still one of the more effective ones. A soft, stretchy worm body can look more alive than stiff chenille, and the gold bead on ours gets it down. Fish it like a nymph, near the bottom under an indicator, or, in a pond, let it sink and twitch it back in small pulls.

Chenille worm flies: Pink worms with a gold bead. The long body wiggles in the current and the bead sinks it.

Between the two: streamers

A streamer is a long fly that moves like a small fish, a leech or a crayfish, depending on how you tie and fish it. The classic is the woolly bugger. It has a marabou tail that pulses in the water, a chenille body, a hackle feather wound along the whole body and, often, a fine copper wire rib to protect the hackle. Dark colors, olive, brown and black, are the usual picks for fresh water, and brighter colors are popular for steelhead, salmon and salt water. The fly is typically tied on hooks from size 2 to 14, and many have a bead or cone for weight. Ours is purple over black. Cast it, let it sink, and strip it back in a slow, steady pull or with short jerks, or swing it across the current. It is used for both freshwater and saltwater game fish.

Purple streamer: A marabou tail, a palmered hackle and copper wire. The tail moves even when the fly sits still.

Sorting a box

On top: poppers and hoppers, mostly for bass and panfish and for fish rising to insects. Fish them with floatant on the hair and legs only where the fly needs it; a foam body floats by itself.
Just under: streamers and wet flies, fished with a pull.
Near the bottom: nymphs, eggs and worms, fished with a dead drift under an indicator.
Color and size follow the water. Brighter flies stand out in stained or dim water, and natural, smaller flies suit clear water and spooky fish.

These notes are general, from published guides and from the flies in our own box. What works changes with the water, the season and the fish. Lure and bait rules vary by water; check TPWD's Outdoor Annual.

Keep reading

Home · Rivers · Lakes · Coast · Trout stocking · Tackle · State parks · Gulf reefs · Learning Center · About · Privacy · Terms

Contact: hello@texcastfishing.com