Trout Flies

Originally tied by Lenard Halladay of Mayfield, Michigan in about 1922, for fishing the Boardman River. The Adams has remained one of the most popular dry flies in the country. In the Pacific Northwest it is a very effective searching pattern in sizes 12-16 for most freestone streams. The Adams can be an incredibly productive fly for evening fishing on Oregon's Deschutes. Sizes 14-18 are most popular. Fish your Adams upstream in the conventional manner. Let it float down stream below you then...

Amy's Ant comes from the vise of Jackson Hole shop owner/guide, Jack Dennis and is named after his daughter. This fly doesn't look much like an ant, but you never know. It has found much favor with the area guides and has also proven itself in the Pacific Nortwest. Jack calls it an ant, but also states, you should have an open mind.

At least this fly is tied in ant colors. When fishing timbered streams there a all kinds of critters that can fall into the water; ants, beetles and bees to name a few. This fly could look like any of those terrestrial insects. It is productive much of the year. Constructed with unsinkable foam, the ant is a great fly to suspend a small nymph from.

Aquatic Moths Throughout the summer months you will see many tannish colored, delta wing insects perched in the vegetation at the water’s edge on the lower Deschutes River. These are adult aquatic moths. They swarm and regroup as you disturb them while walking or wading along the edge of the river. They especially like shoreline grasses along splashy riffles. Here, they pass the days in gregarious communities. Gatherings of aquatic moths can be very dense, often numbering in the hundreds per...

There are many "wormy" looking creatures that live in aquatic environments. Most lakes and weedy streams have dense populations of leeches and aquatic worms. During much of the time, they are buried in the substrate or bottom vegetation. However, during low light conditions they often forage about where they are exposed to patrolling game fish. Trout and bass seek out these tender morsels and eat them like candy. This is especially true early in the spring before weeds start to grow. Leeches...

Baetis CDC Emerger More Information on Winter Baetis Hatches

Baetis Comparadun Trout Dry Fly More Information on Winter Baetis Hatches

More Information on Winter Baetis Hatches

Another killer pattern from John Barr, this fly incorporates a tungsten bead and elements from the Copper John, Prince Nymph and Hare's Ear. Can appear as a large mayfly nymph or a smaller stonefly nymph. A great dropper fly to be used as weight to get deep with smaller/lighter weight flies. The Tung Teaser pattern is especially productive during low light hours when nymphs are redistributing themselves during natural behavioral drift cycles and are exposed to trout. These cycles are heaviest...

This fly is designed as a purple searching nymph that is styled after the ever popular Prince Nymph. Searching nymphs are flies like Hare?s Ear, Pheasant Tails etc. Basically, they are flies that don?t necessarily represent a specific bug but are close enough in proportion to various nymphs and can often times be more successful getting trout to hand if the angler is not ?spot on? as to what bug trout are keying on. Not sure exactly why this fly turned on? It just seems that fish started...

Improved Rubber Leg Stone, BlackThese flies are so realistic you might think that they would crawl out of your hand. the trout love them too.Stoneflies are a small, but diverse family of insects that are adapted to well oxygenated streams and rivers. Stonefly nymphs have fixed gills that can only extract oxygen in moving water. If trapped in still water they die quickly. Most stoneflies crawl out of the water to hatch. The normal procedure is for nymphs to migrate to shore to hatch. This...

Bead Head Caddis Larva The Bead Head Green Caddis Larva is a killer Deschutes fly during late winter and early spring. During this time period dozens of these flies are shipped from our store. In rivers, Caddis larvae can be divided into three basic types; case builders, net spinners and free-living roamers. All caddis larvae are subject to periodic behavioral drift cycles. This is how populations disperse themselves. Both free-living and net spinning caddis larvae can produce a silken strand...

Often referred to as a snow-cone because of the pearl white bead used to add weight and to simulate the white gills of a midge pupa. This is one of the simplest of all flies to tie, but often not tied that well. Because of the simplicity, beginning tyers are broken-in on this fly. That is not the case here. These flies are tied to be authentic for color, and tied for durability as well. These flies cover the gambit of sizes that occur in the natural world, and are a necessity in any fly box...

At one time labeled as: "Premium Skunk Repellent," the Idyl's Chrome Chironomid is one of those fly patterns that wasn't designed to match any hatch. Yet, it was designed to match hatches of many hatches of Chironomids. As the real critters hatch they become very shiny. The Chrome Chironomid is kind of goofy looking, but not when stuck in a trout's jaw. They work.

This is a very popular pattern that looks like a Mayfly Nymph that is about ready to hatch. This fly pattern is very effective during Baetis, Callibaetis and Pale Morning Dun hatches.

I like to refer to these as STD's. Yes, Save The Day flies. When all else fails, reach into the box for a Lightning Bug and it is kind of like turning the bite switch to ON. Black Lightning Bugs fish great in low light morning and evenings and off color water making a great mayfly nymph silhouette. This is a great fly for fishing mid-morning, before the winter baetis hatch. ...

Bead Head Lightning Bug, Pearl GreenThese flies have proven themselves for Cutthroat, Rainbow, Brook, Brown and Bull trout.

These flies have proven themselves for Cutthroat, Rainbow, Brook, Brown and Bull trout.Fish with Red Lightning Bugs especially hard fall through winter and early spring in smaller sizes.

Lightning Bugs are not necessarily new; they are just great nymphs that command attention on all rivers. Silver Lightning Bugs in various sizes are good all year long and belong right next to your Hare's Ear and Pheasant Tails. This can also be a very good fly when tiny fry are emerging. Enough of the smoochy stuff, you animal !!!

This winter stonefly nymph pattern was designed by David Sloan. It represents the small species of winter emerging stoneflies and also the smaller instars of a salmonfly nymph, which may take more than one season to reach full size. This makes the Little Black Sloan a good bet any time of year during low light conditions, when stonefly nymphs are likely to be mixed into the behavioral drift cycles.

Bead Head Mini Leech There are many "wormy" looking creatures that live in aquatic environments. Most lakes and weedy streams have dense populations of leeches and aquatic worms. During much of the time they are buried in the substrate or bottom vegetation. However during low light conditions they often forage about where they are exposed to patrolling game fish. Trout and bass seek out these tender morsels and eat them like candy. This is especially true early in the spring before weeds start...

Travis Johnson says he first became aquainted with the Montana Blue Prince Nymph when a client tied one on the end of his leader and caught a trout with his first cast while fishing the Deschutes River in Oregon. This bug is a hot item from early spring through the summer months.

Searching nymphs are flies like Hare?s Ear, Pheasant Tails etc. Basically, they are flies that don?t necessarily represent a specific bug but are close enough in proportion to various nymphs and can often times be more successful getting trout to hand if the angler is not ?spot on? as to what bug trout are keying on.

This is one of the most popular trout flies in the world. It was originated by FFF Buszek Award winner Doug Prince in the 1970's. The first Prince Nymphs were unweighted. During the same period adding gold colored beads to fly patterns became popular in Europe. When someone added a gold bead to the head of the Prince Nymph it became even more popular.

This pattern mimics caddis species that build cases out of fine gravel and sand. It is especially productive in watersheds which contain a high percentage of granite substrate. Granite is usually composed of quartz (usually white), feldspar (usually gray to tan) and mica (reflective flakes). This fly pattern contains all of those elements. It also works well where granite does not occur.

Copper BobUtilizing an incredibly fast sink rate for such a tiny fly it gets near the bottom where trout would expect to find it. With a forked tail, neutral colored body and striped legs, this nymph approximates many things that trout feed. It has been proven with many great catches. Copper nymphs are especially good in winter for trout, whitefish and even steelhead.Copper Bob, OliveCopper nymphs are especially good in winter for trout, whitefish and even steelhead. This fly works very well...

One of the best all around stonefly nymphs used as a seraching pattern for trout or summer steelhead.

It was bound to happen. Someone placed a tungsten bead in the middle of a soft hackle fly to get it deep in the water column. This is now the most popular of the current soft hackle flies that are available. It may be fished as a nymph or swung as a wet fly, and is especially productive in deeper and faster water in rivers. It can also be a very productive fly during Callibaetis Mayfly hatches in lakes. Often Callibaetis mayfly nymphs make several attempts to reach the surface before they are...

These Bead Head Wooly Buggers have Flashabou Mylar in the marabou tail and down the sides of the body. This gives the flies a flashy lateral line. The weather doesn't always cooperate. Everyone else had quit fishing. They were huddled in small groups behind the van or in the pontoon boat trailer to get out of the ferocious wind that turned the center of the lake into white-caps. Dust blew and weeds flew. Fishing from a float tube was out of the question. No one could kick and hold themselves...

Walk along the shoreline of the Deschutes River and study the vegetation growing on the rocks in the splash zone. There is a lot of it that is yellowish, greenish, stringy stuff that looks like some kind of algae. Fact is, much of what you think is plant life is actually midge eggs; zillions of billions of them. Some species of midges lay strings of eggs on anything that is wet at the edge of the water. This includes not only shoreline rocks but boats, oar blades and the waders of wading...

Another killer pattern from John Barr, incorporating a tungsten bead and elements from the Copper John, Prince Nymph and Hare's Ear. Can appear as a large mayfly nymph or a smaller stonefly nymph. A great dropper fly to be used as weight to get deep with smaller/lighter weight flies.

Bruce Berry has this to say about his Euphoric Muddler: Inspiration for flies comes from many different sources. My Euphoric Muddler came directly from Rick Anderson's Euphoria from Montana Fly Company. Rick is a fly designer and runs Fly Fishing Specialties down in Sacramento, CA. Euphoria is basically a sparsely tied soft-hackle in steelhead colors on a steelhead hook. It is a great mix of materials for movement, offers an explosion of color, is easy to cast, and is one of my personal...

We're not sure who originated the Black Gnat pattern. It appears to be very old and may have originally been tied in the British Isles. It is an effective pattern under many situations. Unknown to many anglers, black can be on of the most easily seen colors in the fading light of evening. Black offers the sharpest contrast in many situations. Even the sharp edges of the black quill wings make it easier to see.

An old British pattern who's original maker is unknown. Was undoubtedly first tied as a wet fly and later adapted as a dry fly pattern. Eventually the dry version became more popular. Is still very effective as a Baetis or Callibaetis mayfly pattern, even when fish are sophisticated.

The product of another nameless originator. The Blue Wing Olive is a great pattern for imitating many common species of mayflies which occur in nearly every region of the Northern Hemisphere. This pattern was undoubtedly first tied as a wet fly with quill wings. Hackle tip wings have proven to be much more effective on the currently popular dry fly listed here.

The best way to fish this fly is to treat the front half of the body with floatant and wet the rear half. This fly often works best as the hatch is winding down.

Blue Wing Olive Thorax Read: Keys to the Winter Baetis Hatch

Tied on a 15mm shank, this little intruder has all the characteristics of its big brother: it moves and breathes while maintaining a profile. Brett Jensen, Fly Designer: In the early seventies, fly tying materials were as hard to find as a ?Sasquatch.? Back then, the only reliable options for tying materials were from mail order companies. But, from the very beginning, even with limited access to basic materials, Brett knew he only wanted to fish with patterns of his design. Steelhead have...