Teaching notes - Flies

“Ninety percent of what trout eat is brown and fuzzy and about five-eighths of an inch long,”

Understanding the types of flies used for fly fishing isn’t hard. It breaks down into three groups, dry, wet and terrestrials. Fly patterns are either attractors, meaning they sort of look like food, or imitators, which means they look a lot like food.

Dry flies

These are the flies that float on the surface of the water and imitate mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies. You can tell the naturals (as opposed to the artificial we use for fishing) apart fairly easily. Mayflies have upright wings like sails on a sailboat, caddisflies have wings that look like pup tents, and stonefly wings are flat on their back.

Wet flies

These are the flies fished below the surface. Streamers and nymphs are the common ones. Streamers imitate baitfish and nymphs imitate immature flies.¹

Terrestrials

Ants, beetles, crickets and grasshoppers are the common terrestrials. Most of the time you will fish them just like a dry fly. They tend to fall in the water so a little splash with your cast is a good thing.

What works?

I don’t jealously guard the contents of my fly box. As a guide I often share what’s in them with my clients or students. I explain what they are and what I use them for. Often the inevitable question comes up, “which ones are your favorite?” and the answer is the oft sought refuge of a guide, “it depends.”

Here are a few that I reach for most often on mountain streams:

• Parachute Adams

• Golden Retriever

• Gold Ribbed Hares Ear

• Black Ant

I feel like I could entice a few fish in any mountain stream with these four flies.

On spring creeks, I would add

• Terrestrials (hoppers, ants and beetles)

• Slumpbuster

• CK nymph

Those are what I call “starter flies.” I try them if I’m not sure what will work. If I know a specific hatch is going on, say sulfurs, yellow stones, caddis or hexs then I start with those or adjust accordingly.

“Ninety percent of what trout eat is brown and fuzzy and about five-eighths of an inch long,” is a common guide axiom. And while that may not be precisely true, it’s close enough.

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1. If you want to dig deeper into the whole lifecycle thing, this is a good article, “Angling Entomology: Life Cycles (A simplified guide to knowing the "bugs")