5 Fly Patterns Any Angler Should Know

1) The Elk Hair Caddis

Fly fishing with a floating fly is a favorite among anglers, catching trout snatching insects from the surface while using a dry fly.

When trout rise at the right time, it is exciting: anticipation builds as your carefully selected fly drifts downstream toward the rising trout when it does happen.

When trout do rise, a great deal of planning goes into getting to the stream on time for the hatch. The thrill of victory comes from a sudden splash.

The Elk Hair Caddis is a brilliantly simple design for a floating fly. It consists primarily of bleached elk or deer hair lashed onto a hook, with tapered tips pointing rearward.

When at rest, the wings lie tented along the body of the fly, unlike mayflies, whose wings are mostly upright when at rest.

 

2) The Frenchie Nymph

While trout aren’t rising, they’re still eating just below the surface and out of sight.

The flies that eventually emerge at the surface usually live on the streambed as crawling nymphs or helpless larval worms.

These critters are almost always present in trout streams and often drift in the current, where trout casually pick them off as they pass.

Nymphs, including the popular The Frenchie Nymph, are beloved by European competition anglers for their ability to imitate subsurface bugs.

This fly is designed with a metal bead head usually tungsten that causes it to sink rapidly down to the area of the streambed where trout lurk in wait.

Its colorful speckled tail complements its fuzzy, brown body, made from pheasant’s tail fibers, which lend it an authentic bug-like appearance.

3) The Woolly Bugger

Many deem the Woolly Bugger their go-to fly, the one every flyer should carry in their survival kits. Some exaggerate and argue that it can catch almost any fish that swims!

It has become a significant category in itself, due to modifications to the traditional recipe over time. The classic consists of soft undulated tailing, a yarn body and wrapped feathers to fan out its fibers.

Woolly Buggers are a type of streamer, typically around 2 inches in length, which gives them an advantage over other “insect” flies like the Frenchie and Elk Hair Caddis.

At first glance they could be mistaken for certain types of large bugs such as stonefly nymphs, hellgrammites, and caterpillars – and indeed can be drifted like them too.

But perhaps their most appealing aspect is their long history; Woolly Buggers have been catching fish in Europe for hundreds of years!

4) The Rusty Spinner

The Rusty Spinner, which imitates a mayfly at the end of its life cycle, is highly sought after by trout. These insects go through quite a journey – they start out as crawling nymphs and swim up to the surface where they transform into winged adults.

Upon molting again into a sexually mature fly, they take part in a midair swarm over the stream before returning to the water.

Anglers rejoice when they find themselves during a spinner fall, but understandably so – these flies are effective even in cases where no actual spinner fall occurs.

5) The Partridge and Green

In some situations, trout might be feeding near the surface, but not on it.

They might be feeding on a hatch of mayflies or caddis flies, but they are more interested in bugs on their way up than those already there. In the middle depths, they may just be grazing on random insects.

The nymph does not need to bounce along the bottom, but a floating fly doesn’t do the job. You need a wet fly.

The Partridge and Green is an excellent choice for any situation.

Its soft hackle consists of just a couple wraps of banded partridge feather, making it slender and lightweight – qualities shared by many real aquatic flies, yet not common in most manufactured patterns.

This makes it so much more successful when targeting trout that aren’t fooled by heavier, fuzzier designs.

 

Sources: fieldandstream