I’ll admit it right up front, I’m biased. When I create, tie, or select flies for fishing, I typically start by thinking about the habitat(s)
I’ll be fishing. Closely intertwined with habitat, but usually a close second, is the species I’ll be pursuing. When tying flies for bonefish
and redfish, for example, it’s habitat first, species second. Many of my bonefish flies I also use for redfish – sometimes the exact same
version, other times with a slight revision to reflect nuances in habitat characteristics (tan vs brown body, rootbeer vs gold flash, for example).

Even if I’m tying flies for a particular species, tarpon for example, I tie flies specific to the different habitats I will be fishing. I use this same approach when selecting a fly from the fly box – I select a fly that imitates a prey that will likely occur in that habitat. This seems pretty straightforward to me, but I think it’s probably not a very common approach.

Step one when creating, tying, or selecting a fly while fishing is to consider the habitat. In each habitat, a gamefish will have a group of
prey from which to select. Some prey will be found in multiple habitats, so one pattern will be useful in many locations. Other prey will be specific to one habitat, so some patterns may be successful only under limited conditions. Casting a big mantis shrimp pattern to bonefish in a backcountry lagoon, for example, probably won’t get you very much. But a small shrimp, crab, or worm pattern should get
their attention.

The first order of business is to get an idea of what prey are available in what habitats. This may seem a daunting task for saltwater anglers, especially those new to the game, but it’s really not. For example, it’s now pretty much assumed that competent trout anglers will know what prey are eaten by trout in different streams and seasons, but that knowledge didn’t come overnight (and that knowledge base is still growing). The world of trout anglers has just has been at it longer.

Nowadays there are numerous books available that introduce saltwater anglers to the world of gamefish prey. Take a page from the trout world playbook and buy some of the books that present flies in the context of habitats. I will, of course, tout my own book Fly Fisherman’s Guide to Saltwater Prey, as a good book that provides a photo collection of gamefish prey with details on habitats and regions in which they occur. My other book, Fisherman’s Coast, has few photos, but covers habitat characteristics and prey in plenty of detail. Fly-Fishing for Bonefish (by Chico Fernandez), contains information on bonefish prey. Other books also cover prey and flies, but address the habitat aspect is considerably less detail.

Once you have an idea of the prey you want to imitate, the next step is to consider color. In general, tie flies that are similar in color to
the habitat they inhabit. Some prey species are exactly the color of the habitat in which they live – some crabs that live on light bottom, for example, so closely match the bottom that they are difficult to see when you are staring right at them. For these species, I typically tie flies in colors that are just a bit off from the natural color so that the flies contrast a bit with the bottom and are easier to see (for me and the fish). On white sand flats, for example, I usually use a medium to dark tan for crab and shrimp flies. For a slightly darker bottom, I pull out the light tan or dark brown flies.

Most other prey species, however, are similar in tone to their surroundings rather than exact color matches. So a good general strategy is to match dark bottoms, whether seagrass or algae, with darker flies and light bottoms with light colored flies. The same goes for flash, if you use it – use pearl, pink, silver, and even rootbeer in flies you tie for light bottoms, and copper, gold, and green for darker flies.

Once you have the fly in hand, then comes the challenge of how to present the fly. Habitat should be an important factor in presentation, but you also need to consider what prey you are imitating. Crabs, shrimp, gobies, and worms, for example, all have different movement patterns and use the habitats in different ways. And they will behave differently in different habitats. Seagrass, for example, provides plenty of hiding places and even prey swimming above the grass will dive down among the grass blades to escape predators. In contrast, open sand provides scant refuge; some prey quickly burrow into the bottom, others dive into holes, and others try to outrun or outmaneuver the predator in the open water.

With that introduction, I’ll now address some of my favorite flies for my favorite gamefish. This will be an ongoing project, so check back for additions. Once a gamefish name below has a link, it is live.

Bonefish
Redfish
Snook
Permit
Tarpon
Striped Bass

All material copyright Aaron Adams 2010 and beyond, unless noted.