It all depends where you fish. I fish the Cape mostly and small flies catch big fish on the Flats. The reason is the bait is small. Be flexible that's the key to success. There is no magic fly that will do it all. However, two flies that come close are Ray's fly and a Chartreuse and White Clouser. FishHawk
The two most popular and easy flies to tie are the clouser and the deciever. Both very proven and there are many variations. The new book by Bob Clouser is exceptional and leaves nothing to the imagination. Additionally I would second others recommendations on the Flatwing and Ray's flies. Both cast well and catch well. Getting back to the deceiver I just got back from FL and a guy who was walking lovers key on Tuesday looking for snook took a 29lb Jack Crevalle using a three and a half inch all white deceiver. They work. I tried tying and fishing many patterns myself when I first started but now I have culled it down to the basics for simplicities sake. You find yourself reaching for those same flies you have confidence in. The sea trout in Fl really like the flat wings. There were a million glass minnows in fl this week and the lady fish were all over a standard chartruese and white clouser. I had used synthetic material and didn't have a comb and the fly looked like hell but kept catching skip jacks and lady fish up until this morning when I tossed it into a feeding frenzy of what I thought were all lady fish but turns out there was at least one fish with something sharp in the mix as the leader was sheared off up past the tippet. Maybe a snook or jack I will never know. All part of the fun...
Hybrid Mode
