Essential Fly Patterns for Rocky Mountain National Park: A Guide

Paul Prentiss, posted a blog over at the Front Range Anglers site titled the same? ?Must Have Pattern for Rocky Mountain National Park?.  In which he lists the Black Fly Larva and gives the original recipe and his modifications.  You can check out his post here.

Since I have never tied a Black Fly Larva let alone used it in the Park.  This got me thinking, I bet there are a ton of ?Must Have Patterns?  for Rocky Mountain National Park.  Shoot the new book out by Steven Schweitzer called ?Fly Fishing Rocky Mountain National Park? has over 100 ?effective? flies in it for the park.  Side note:  This is the best fishing book out there for fishing Rocky Mountain National Park, it?s a must have.  I too have my must have patterns for the Park.  After all the park mostly holds greenback cutthroat trout which isn?t known for being a smart trout, early settlers would boast at how easy it was to catch these fish.  So there are probably several hundred patterns out there that can catch trout there.

Having fished the park a lot I too have a couple must have patterns, not surprisingly they are my must have patterns for most high mountain lakes.   But in Rocky Mountain National Park if I had to limit it to one pattern I would use a black ant.  I have had many a days where I hit a lake there throwing big hoppers to get no takers? in the summer I love throwing hopper patterns to high country trout.  But after a few spooked fish and a few rejections I have to change tactics to catch these fish.  Out comes my flying black ant pattern.  I cannot take credit for this pattern, I saw a fly similar to this on the internet one time with no recipe or anything but I really liked the look of it. So here is my recipe:
Hook: any curved light wire hook size 14-16
Thread: Black UTC
Body: 2mm craft foam black
Legs: Black hackle
Wings: White hackle tips

This fly has caught more fish for me in Rocky Mountain National Park than any other fly I?ve ever tried to use.  Sometimes I have to modify the fly either because they aren?t taking it or they have taken it to many times and one of the wings was ripped off.  When this happens I simply remove the other wing.  Without the wings I can still fish it above the surface of the water or I can give a quick strip and send it slowly sinking.  Sinking it seems to be highly effective when fishing along the rock faces.
Thanks Paul and FRA for sharing their must have RMNP fly with us and inspiring this blog post.  Now you have 2 more flies for your Rocky Mountain National Park fly box? Do you have a must have RMNP fly?