Flies & Fly Tying
Best Nymphs for Trout
Trout do most of their feeding below the surface. These are the subsurface patterns to carry, and how to fish them.
If you want to catch more trout, fish nymphs. The large majority of a trout's diet is taken below the surface, and on a day with no visible rises a nymph drifted near the bottom will out-fish a dry fly comfortably.
The reason beginners avoid nymphing is that you cannot see the take. A trout eats a nymph and spits it in well under a second, and nothing happens on the surface to tell you. The fix is not skill, it is rigging — see the dry-dropper rig.
The short list
| # | Pick | Best for | Score | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Orvis Essential Trout Nymph AssortmentNymphs onlyBest Overall | Nymphs only, in a curated spread | 7.8 | Check price on Amazon |
| 2 | Orvis Essential Trout Fly SelectionPre-packaged assortmentBest Starter Kit | Nymphs and dries together for one purchase | 7.8 | Check price on Amazon |
| 3 | Umpqua UPG Ultimate Trout Selection78 patterns · box includedBest Upgrade Pick | Enough patterns to cover a whole season | 7.8 | Check price on Amazon |
1. Best Overall
Orvis Essential Trout Nymph Assortment
The assortment that catches the most fish, if you are willing to fish a fly you cannot see.
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Nymph-only pre-packaged assortment |
| Packaging | Pre-packaged set |
Trout take the large majority of their food underwater, as nymphs drifting in the current. That means a box of nymphs will out-fish a box of dry flies on most days on most rivers, and the Essential Trout Nymph Assortment is Orvis's pre-packed version of that box.
The trade is not price, it is engagement. Fishing a dry fly means watching a fish rise and eat something you can see, and it is the reason a lot of people fly fish at all. Nymphing means watching an indicator and setting the hook on a hesitation.
Our dry-dropper rig guide is the way to have both: a visible dry fly on the surface with a nymph hanging below it. If you buy one assortment, buy the mixed Essential Trout Fly Selection. If you buy two, these are the second.
What we like
- Trout do most of their feeding below the surface, so a nymph-weighted box out-fishes a dry-weighted one most days
- Narrower selection is easier to learn than a mixed box
What you give up
- No dry flies, so you cannot fish a rising fish without buying more
- Nymphing is slightly harder to learn than fishing a dry you can see
| Criterion | Score / 10 |
|---|---|
| Pattern choice | 8 |
| Hook quality | 9 |
| Beginner value | 8 |
| Local relevance | 5 |
| Value | 8 |
| Overall | 7.8 |
2. Best Starter Kit
Orvis Essential Trout Fly Selection
The right first fly purchase if you do not have a local shop to ask — a curated set rather than a hundred random flies.
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Pre-packaged trout fly assortment |
| Packaging | Sized to slip into a wader pocket or sling pack |
| Related sets | Essential Trout Dries and Essential Trout Nymph assortments sold separately |
The hardest part of buying your first flies is that the question has no general answer: the right fly depends on your river, the month and what is hatching. Faced with that, most beginners buy a hundred-fly bulk assortment, and most of those flies never get fished.
A curated assortment is the better compromise. Orvis's Essential Trout Fly Selection is a pre-packaged set sized to live in a wader pocket, and Orvis also sells dries-only and nymph-only versions if you already know which style your water calls for.
The honest caveat, and we would rather say it than sell you flies: if there is a fly shop within driving distance, go in and ask. Local knowledge beats any national selection, and it costs you nothing.
What we like
- Removes the single most paralyzing decision a beginner faces, which is which flies to buy
- Covers dries and subsurface patterns rather than only one style
- Orvis hooks and tying quality are consistent, which matters because a bent hook point is invisible until you miss a fish
What you give up
- Generic across the country rather than matched to your local water
- Costs more per fly than buying a bulk assortment
| Criterion | Score / 10 |
|---|---|
| Pattern choice | 8 |
| Hook quality | 9 |
| Beginner value | 8 |
| Local relevance | 5 |
| Value | 7 |
| Overall | 7.8 |
3. Best Upgrade Pick
Umpqua UPG Ultimate Trout Selection
The box-plus-flies purchase that makes sense in your second season, not your first.
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Patterns | 78 |
| Box | Supplied in an Umpqua fly box |
Umpqua is the company that ties a large share of what you see in fly shop bins, and the UPG Ultimate Trout Selection is their deep set: 78 patterns supplied in an Umpqua fly box. If you already know you are going to keep fishing, the per-fly cost and the included box make this better value than it first looks.
We would still not make it a first purchase. There is a specific learning curve in fly selection, and it runs through fishing a small number of patterns until you understand why one works and another does not. Owning 78 flies before you have fished 10 skips the part where you learn.
If you want the Umpqua depth matched to where you fish, their regional sets are the better route — the Southern Rockies selection comes as a 19-fly Deluxe or a 56-fly Guide version, and there is an Eastern Trout selection too.
What we like
- 78 patterns is genuinely a season's worth rather than a sampler
- The box is included, and an Umpqua box on its own is not cheap
- Umpqua ties commercially for fly shops, so the patterns are the ones shops actually sell
What you give up
- A big outlay for a first purchase
- Still a national selection, not a local one
- 78 patterns is a lot to learn; most beginners fish six of them
| Criterion | Score / 10 |
|---|---|
| Pattern choice | 9 |
| Hook quality | 9 |
| Beginner value | 6 |
| Local relevance | 6 |
| Value | 8 |
| Overall | 7.8 |
The four nymphs to carry
| Pattern | Sizes | Imitates | When it shines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pheasant Tail (beadhead) | 16, 18 | Mayfly nymph | The default nymph. Slim, dark, sinks fast enough with a bead |
| Hare's Ear | 14, 16 | Caddis larva, generic nymph | Early season, colored water, scruffy is the point |
| Zebra Midge | 18, 20 | Midge larva | Winter, tailwaters, slow clear water where nothing else works |
| Beadhead Woolly Bugger | 8, 10 | Leech, crayfish, small fish | Not strictly a nymph, but the most productive fly in cold or high water |
Carry a beaded and an unbeaded version of the Pheasant Tail if you can. The bead gets it down in fast water; the unbeaded one drifts naturally in slow, clear pools where a heavy nymph crashes through the zone the fish are in.
Why the bead matters
A nymph only works at the depth the fish are feeding, which is usually within a foot of the bottom. A bead is the simplest way to get there, and the difference between a beaded and unbeaded nymph on a fast run is the difference between fishing and not fishing.
The adjustment you make is depth, not pattern. If you are not catching, add weight or lengthen the distance between your indicator and your fly before you change flies. Nine times out of ten the nymph was simply drifting above the fish.
Three ways to fish a nymph, in order of difficulty
1. Dry-dropper — start here
A buoyant dry fly on the surface with a nymph tied 18 to 36 inches below it. The dry is your indicator and occasionally catches fish itself. It is the easiest way into nymphing and it is genuinely effective, not a training-wheels compromise. Full setup on the dry-dropper rig explained.
2. Indicator nymphing
A strike indicator on the leader with one or two nymphs below it, set to roughly one and a half times the water depth. More depth control than a dry-dropper and it fishes heavier flies. Set the hook on anything the indicator does that the current did not ask it to do.
3. Tight-line or Euro nymphing
No indicator — you feel the take through a tight line. Deadly, and a specializt technique with its own rods and leaders. File it under later: this site is written for a first setup, and a 9-foot 5-weight is not a Euro rod.
Reading where to put it
- The seam where fast water meets slow. Trout sit in the slow side and eat what the fast side delivers.
- The head of a pool, where a riffle drops in. Food concentrates and oxygen is high.
- Behind rocks, not in front of them. The cushion downstream is where a fish can hold without working.
- Undercut banks, especially on an outside bend. Shade, depth and cover in one place.
A nymph fished accurately in the right six feet of a river beats any pattern fished randomly across a hundred yards of it.
Questions people actually ask
What is the best nymph for trout?
A beadhead Pheasant Tail in size 16. It imitates the mayfly nymphs present in almost every trout stream in America, it is slim enough to look right, and the bead gets it down to where fish are feeding.
How deep should I fish a nymph?
Within about a foot of the bottom. With an indicator, set it at roughly one and a half times the water depth to allow for the angle of the line in the current, then adjust until you occasionally tick bottom — that is the sign you are in the zone.
How do I know when a trout takes my nymph?
You usually do not see or feel it directly, which is why you watch an indicator or a buoyant dry fly. Set the hook on any hesitation, dip or sideways movement that the current does not explain. Most beginners miss fish by waiting for certainty.
Do I need two nymphs on the line?
No, and for a first season one is better. Two nymphs tangle, and untangling a dropper rig in cold water wastes more fishing time than the second fly earns.
Where these figures come from
Read next
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