Money Bugs by Kirk Deeter

Wonder what flies the fish are biting on this year? We did. So, like handicapping horses, we "followed the money," and asked Umpqua Feather Merchants, the largest producer and distributor of flies in the country, what the hottest-selling bugs of this season are. In some cases, says Umpqua, age-old standards are still leading the field. Yet in others, hot innovations have made a splash. Granted, there are "show" flies and "dough" flies. These are the money bugs that are proving their worth with professional guides and weekend warriors from coast to coast. And if you're in the process of a mid-season "reload" of your fly box, it probably wouldn't hurt to double-up on some of these options:

Parachute: Hot Colors: Olive and Adams.

No surprise here. The parachute dry fly has a profile that cleanly replicates adult mayflies, and its white post makes it highly visible to anglers. The Adams variety has been a do-anything, match-almost-any-hatch pattern since its development in upstate Michigan in the early 1920s (it was named after Judge Charles Adams). It is judicious, in any regard, to have a healthy supply of parachute Adams flies in all sizes in your box. If I had to pick only one dry fly to fish a mayfly hatch, anywhere, any time...this is the pattern I'd pick, and it'd be an easy choice.