The Essentials Flies for Trout

I often get asked "what's your favorite fly?" and every angler likely has their confidence patterns, whether it's a classic like the Woolly Bugger or perhaps a creation their own.

For trout, here is a view into some of my favorites which I've found are effective whether on my local spring creek or a freestone.

1. Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear - one cannot go wrong with this pattern which imitates a variety of aquatic insects. Plus, during a caddis hatch, you can swing it and it’ll work just fine as a wet fly.

2. An Olive Wet - This pattern also can help you imitate many emerging aquatic insects (plus, it’s a great option for a standard caddis hatch as well as a great dropper fly to fish with the Hare's Ear).

Pro Tip: keep in mind that most trout feed on emergers during a caddis hatch.

3. Pink Scud - scud are a year-round food source for trout so this is a standard fly for both my local spring and freestone creeks (both are infested with this crustacean). You can modify this pattern by tying it in either a light brown, or even a brownish-olive color.

4. Rusty Spinner - some of our best dry fly fishing opportunities are right at dusk during a spinner return. A rusty spinner will always be a good representation of multiple mayflies in the spinner form.

5. White Wolf - this is is an excellent pattern for low-light, heavy hatches and is also a great searching fly. This is my favorite pattern for fishing spinner falls in the evening with a rusty spinner, dropped off the band of the hook. You can always see the white wolf in low light. It is amazing how many fish will eat this fly in a spinner fall (ome of my best fish each year come via this pattern).

6. The Adams - this is a classic. I have fished through so many hatches with this pattern with great succes, even though it may not look like a fly that is hatching. However, the fish just seem to eat it. The old saying goes well endowed Adams it out.

Hopefully, this inspires you to rotate new patterns into your trout box or perhaps, provide you with a new confidence fly to tie.

If you'd like to see me tie one of the above, drop us an email at jaypeckguides@gmail.com.

Jay