When fishing stillwaters, attractor flies are extremely under utilized here in the states. I think because of two things; most stillwater anglers don’t know how or why to use stillwater attractor flies, and because the materials to tie them and the flies are not usually stocked in fly shops. This means no one knows what flies to even seek out, to buy or what to tie if they planned to tie their own. I’m going to break down what kind of flies are used as attractors and which ones are my favorite.
I break down flies into a few categories. First, there are blob style flies. These would include the blob, the FAB (foam ass blob), daphnia blob. These are some of the easier flies to tie and there are literally 1000’s of color combos you can pick from and tie. Next, the booby style patterns. I tie my boobies in a blob variation, blending the two styles, but most boobies are tied with short tails, skinny bodies, and with wings that end at the tail. The last category are worm flies. This can be a fly like the bionic worm from Phil Rowley or like an apps worm or a squirmy wormy.
Some guys really hate attractor flies but it’s usually because they don’t understand the purpose of them. Yes, the main goal is to be an attractor and bring the fish in and potentially trigger an aggression or curiosity response from a fish. The other goal, that sometimes is more important than the attraction, is the effect most attractors have on sink rate and rig drag. Buoyant flies and flies that produce a lot of water drag help present your flies in a way a bead or a line can’t on their own and I will get into that in another post. Until then here are some of my favorite attractors and the color combos I like.
Blob
This is a pattern that is probably the most digestible for anglers new to attractors. I use 15mm fritz from different brands. I personally really like Frozen North Fishing or FNF for short. They have a huge range of colors that are insanely bright under UV light. The other brands out there I like are Upavon and Flybox. A blob is a one or two material fly that is easy to tie in a million colors. Probably the most well known color combo is Tequila. The guys at Sport Fishing on the Fly really like this combo and fish it a ton on their program. I’m partial to the Fly Fish Food color combo, Starburst, and my color combo, Boxed Wine. But there are others out there like my Mnt. Dew colors, Voltage and Code Red, and the other combo I have in my box, Celery Stick and BLACKPINK. The other combo I’ve liked is, what I have coined, Apples & Oranges.
Color combos: Tequila (FNF Zest, FNF Safety Orange), Starburst (FNF Iain Barr Candy, FNF Zest), Boxed Wine (FNF Claret, FNF Black), Voltage (Upavon Lavender, FNF Aqua), Code Red (FNF Biscuit, FNF Rutland Red), Celery Stick (FNF Atomic Yellow, FNF Melon), BLACKPINK (FNF Black, FNF Comp Pink), Apples & Oranges (Flybox Apple, Flybox Comp Orange)
FAB
This is the exact same fly as a blob but with a buoyant butt. As a fly tyer we achieve that by typically using a foam cylinder either cut from a block or pre cut cylinders. I cut my own from a block of foam from Upavon using cutters from the same company. I like the 4mm size because to me it is a good balance between being buoyant enough and easy to tie down. The foam has a tendency to spin on the hook so glue and heavier thread should stop that from happening. You also want thicker thread so you don’t cut through the foam either. The foam can be any color you want it to be. Some anglers like it to match the rear color of fritz where others want it to match the front and there are some who go with a completely different color than the fritz.
Color combos: Tequila (FNF Zest, FNF Safety Orange), Starburst (FNF Iain Barr Candy, FNF Zest), Boxed Wine (FNF Claret, FNF Black), Voltage (Upavon Lavender, FNF Aqua), Code Red (FNF Biscuit, FNF Rutland Red), Celery Stick (FNF Atomic Yellow, FNF Melon), BLACKPINK (FNF Black, FNF Comp Pink), Apples & Oranges (Flybox Apple, Flybox Comp Orange)
Booby
These are the most buoyant flies in the attractor line up. This means they will change your presentation the most out of the flies listed so far. I tie mine blob style where it is the same fly as a blob but with a short, dense marabou tail and the booby eyes. Traditionally this fly is tied with a short, dense tail, thin flashy or bright body, a wing of marabou, then the eyes. I have had great success fishing my version and I feel like they are easier to tie en masse. I have a few of the color combos I like a lot are the Blue Damsel, Dr. Evil, Starburst, Yellow Dancer, Tequila, and Boxed Wine to name a few.
Color combs: Blue Damsel (Olive Marabou, FNF Golden Olive, Blue Eyes), Dr. Evil (Chartreuse Marabou, FNF Hulk, FNF Magma, White Eyes), Starburst (Yellow Marabou, FNF Iain Barr Candy, FNF Zest, Yellow Eyes), Yellow Dancer (White Marabou, FNF Zest, White Eyes), Tequila (Orange Marabou, FNF Zest, FNF Safety Orange, Orange Eyes), Boxed Wine (Claret Marabou, FNF Claret, FNF Black, Black Eyes)
Pulling blob
This is my version of the classic European pulling flies like the cat’s whiskers and yellow dancer. These flies are not to represent anything natural in the water; they are purely there to elicit a strike from a fish out of anger, curiosity, or instinct. Everytime I have one tied on I’m shocked at how effective they are at getting fish when nothing else will. There is a local high altitude lake I like a lot and nothing was really getting me fish one day I was up there in the early season. I tied on the green and black version and that changed the rest of the day for me.
Color combos: Yellow dancer (White Marabou, UV Shrimp Pink Ice Dub, FNF Zest, Gold Bead), Blank Saver (Black Marabou, UV Chartreuse Ice Dub, FNF Hulk, Black Bead), Pink Panther (Shrimp Pink Marabou, UV Hot Pink Ice Dub, FNF Iain Barr Candy)
Apps Worm
This has been a classic fly in Europe and the UK for a long time. It is fished a variety of ways and all are effective given the circumstances. I like to tie mine in the eight leg variety and in red mostly. There are four leg versions that lots of anglers fish and tie as well. The four legged versions are simpler to tie because they have less span flex getting in the way but they have less movement and drag. The version I tie is my take on the glass beaded version. Traditionally the fly is tied with either a span-flex ribbed body or a body made of glass beads. What I have noticed with glass beads is the consistency in quality is not there so I didn’t want to use them but still wanted the look. Instead I just used medium sized D-rib. This material gives you the glass bead look without having to find enough decent glass beads in the pack. If you wanted to try this yourself the colors I would tie in order of effectiveness would be; red, amber, olive, and purple.
Chewing Gum Worm
This is my guilty fly. A lot of comps and anglers ban squirmy worms. Some guys don’t like them in principle, some don’t use them because they don’t want to fish with them if they can’t compete with them. This is a comp legal and mostly pride legal worm. It uses chenille instead of silicon worm material. I tie in red, chartreuse, pink, and black. The only reason this is in my box is because there are times when the stocker fish, I sometimes target, key into patterns like this. I went stocker bashing one time with only the red one in my box. I was getting schooled by all the gear guys with their grimy green powerbait fingers. I was only able to land one fish and it was on the red chewing gum worm, but I had a feeling if I could at least match the color of their powerbait I could’ve caught more fish.
There are other attractor patterns out there that anglers all over use that are equally as effective. If you have some you like let me know down below or if you have questions about the ones listed about let us know we would love to take to you about it.
GL
