For stripers it's a toss up between a good sand eel, juvie bunker, and silverside - with my money going on what the ongoing feed bag is providing to the game fish in any given situation. If that doesn't work I will go to something totally different.
For instance, if the pogies are being run up the shoreline and the bass are staking out a rocky obstruction, why throw a silverside? Then if they won't take my best imitation, the go for stimulation (e.g. imitator vs stimulator). Throw something totally different and get their attention. Most cases a good imitation is all I ever get to experiment with, it usually works like a dream.
If big cow bass are pink-lipped and rooting fat summer sand eels from the sand bottom, why would you throw a bunker fly? They will gladly accept a good sand eel pattern, sand eels are "God's gift to flyfishermen". Slim and easy to cast, yet catches the monsters in wide range of situations from flats to rips.
That being said, those are my top three flies for this time of year. Sand eel - the reel eel, pogie - Juro's juvie (for lack of a better name) and for silverside I tie a striper version of my coho candy (in the coho salmon patterns). These are in the archives if you are interested.
Now if I am hitting the offshore rips with Capt.Bruce Peters... a mondo squid or foot long rip eel would be on the line instead. If they are aggressive, a banger would go on; and if they are crabbin' I have an easy felt crab to throw too.
I don't know if there really is a "most" productive pattern...
1) Grass hoppers, big fat, juicy deer hair grass hoppers.
2) Enlarged nymph w/legs, tied in a 2x long streamer hook.
3) Black marabou leach pattern.
These three are hard to beat on Ohio streams & rivers.
Going after hatchery trout?
Use spun deer hair, clipped to look like a pellet (trout-chow), works like a charm, only not as glamorous to the Isaac Walton League. ;-)
Since I figured this was a striper question I stuck to the coastal pattern mix, but since MFM opened up the discussion if we were to talk steelhead I would say that the top three would be (a) sedge muddler (b) flashabou ribbed matuka rat (c) pink pupa - and not in any order of priority; once again it depends on the water being fished. Also that could change quickly with new experiences.
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