Flies & Fly Tying
Best Trout Flies for Beginners
You need about six patterns, not a hundred. Here is the short list, and the pre-packaged boxes that get you there in one purchase.
The honest answer first: a beginner needs roughly two dozen flies in about six patterns, in two or three sizes each. Not the hundred-fly assortment, and not one of everything the fly shop sells. A small number of proven patterns fished properly out-catches an enormous box fished randomly, every single time.
That is also the practical answer, because you are going to lose flies. To trees, to rocks, to the bottom, to knots that come undone. Buying deep in a few patterns means a lost fly is replaceable from your own box rather than the end of your afternoon.
The short list
| # | Pick | Best for | Score | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Orvis Essential Trout Fly SelectionPre-packaged assortmentBest Overall | A curated first box without choosing patterns yourself | 7.8 | Check price on Amazon |
| 2 | Orvis Essential Trout Nymph AssortmentNymphs onlyBest Value | Nymphs only — which is where most trout actually eat | 7.8 | Check price on Amazon |
| 3 | Orvis Essential Trout Dries AssortmentDry flies onlyBest for Trout | Dry flies only, for fishing to visible rising fish | 7.4 | Check price on Amazon |
| 4 | Umpqua UPG Ultimate Trout Selection78 patterns · box includedBest Upgrade Pick | A full season of patterns with the box included | 7.8 | Check price on Amazon |
1. Best Overall
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 |
2. Best Value
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 |
3. Best for Trout
Orvis Essential Trout Dries Assortment
The assortment to buy for the learning, not the catch rate — a visible fly teaches you drift better than anything else.
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Dry-fly-only pre-packaged assortment |
There is an argument for buying dry flies first that has nothing to do with catching more fish: you can see them. Watching your own dry fly drag across the current, and watching the drag disappear when you get the cast right, teaches you more about presentation in an afternoon than a season of nymphing will.
Orvis's Essential Trout Dries assortment is the pre-packed version. It will not catch as much as a nymph box, because trout do not look up most of the time, and that is the honest trade.
Pair it with a floatant and expect to change flies more than you think — a drowned dry fly is a wet nymph nobody designed.
What we like
- Dry-fly fishing is the most instructive way to learn, because you can see exactly what your fly is doing
- A visible fly means you learn about drag and drift far faster than you would nymphing
What you give up
- Dries only work when fish are looking up, which is a minority of any season
- Small dries are fiddly to tie on in low light
| Criterion | Score / 10 |
|---|---|
| Pattern choice | 8 |
| Hook quality | 9 |
| Beginner value | 7 |
| Local relevance | 5 |
| Value | 7 |
| Overall | 7.4 |
4. 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 |
How we chose
We looked for assortments that are curated rather than comprehensive — boxes assembled around patterns that work across most American trout water, in sizes a beginner can actually tie on and see. A size 22 midge is a real fly that catches real fish and it is a terrible first fly: you cannot see it, you cannot thread it, and you will not know when a trout has eaten it.
Then we weighted hook quality, whether the assortment includes a box or expects you to own one, and whether the pattern choice is genuinely broad or three variations of the same thing. We have not fished every fly in every assortment and will not imply we have. How We Choose.
The six patterns that do the work
If you ignore every assortment on this page and buy singles at a fly shop, buy these. The list is deliberately boring — these patterns are old because they work.
| Pattern | Type | Sizes to carry | What it imitates | When to fish it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parachute Adams | Dry | 14, 16, 18 | A generic mayfly, and almost any small gray insect | Fish rising; the default dry fly anywhere |
| Elk Hair Caddis | Dry | 14, 16 | A caddis fly, and a decent hopper at a push | Evening rises, broken water, summer |
| Pheasant Tail Nymph | Nymph | 16, 18 | A mayfly nymph | Any time nothing is rising — the default |
| Hare's Ear Nymph | Nymph | 14, 16 | A caddis larva or generic scruffy nymph | Early season, murky water, deeper runs |
| Beadhead Woolly Bugger | Streamer | 8, 10 | A leech, a crayfish, a small baitfish | Cold water, high water, when you want to cover ground |
| Foam Ant or Beetle | Terrestrial dry | 14, 16 | An ant or beetle fallen from the bank | Summer, especially on small streams near grass |
Why we recommend nymphs before dry flies
Dry fly fishing is the image of the sport and it is not where most of the eating happens. Trout take the large majority of their food below the surface, and on most days a nymph drifted near the bottom will outfish a dry fly comfortably.
The problem for a beginner is that nymphing is harder to learn, because you cannot see the take. That is exactly why the dry-dropper rig exists: a visible dry fly on the surface with a nymph hung beneath it, so the dry acts as both a fly and an indicator. It is the single most useful rig a beginner can learn, and it is why the dries assortment and the nymph assortment on this page are both worth owning.
How many flies you actually need
| If you fish | Patterns | Flies per pattern | Rough total |
|---|---|---|---|
| A few times a season | 4 | 3 | About a dozen |
| Monthly | 6 | 4 | Two dozen |
| Weekly | 8 to 10 | 4 to 6 | Forty to sixty |
Those numbers assume you are losing flies, because you are. If you are not losing any flies you are not fishing close enough to where the trout are. A box of fifty is plenty for a first season — and you want a fly box that holds them without crushing the hackle.
Buy an assortment or buy singles?
Assortment, for a first purchase. You get a coherent spread chosen by somebody who knows what works, usually at a lower per-fly cost, and often with a box. The alternative — standing at a fly shop wall of a thousand bins and choosing twenty — is genuinely paralyzing when you do not yet know what any of them are.
Singles, once you know your water. Ask the nearest fly shop what is working this week and buy four of it. That conversation is the highest-value twenty dollars in fly fishing, and a regional assortment such as the Rocky Mountain starter box is the next best thing when there is no shop nearby.
What to skip entirely
- The 100-fly bargain kit. The hooks are the problem, not the count: soft wire bends open on a decent fish, and a fly that falls apart after two trout is not cheap.
- Anything smaller than size 20 for now. Real fish eat them; you cannot see them, thread them, or detect the take yet.
- Saltwater and bass patterns, unless that is your water. A box of clousers is not a trout box.
- Flies matched to a specific hatch you have not identified. Learn to read what is on the water first — what flies to use for trout covers how.
Questions people actually ask
How many flies do I need to start fly fishing?
Around two dozen, in about six patterns, in two or three sizes each. Buy depth in a few proven patterns rather than one of everything — you will lose flies while you learn, and a lost pattern you have four of is a non-event.
What is the single best fly for trout?
If forced to one: a Parachute Adams in size 16. It imitates a generic mayfly closely enough to work almost anywhere in America, it floats well, and you can actually see it on the water, which matters more than people admit.
Are cheap fly assortments on Amazon worth it?
The risk is hook quality rather than pattern choice. Soft-wire hooks bend open on a good fish and dull quickly on rock. A curated assortment from an established fly brand costs more per fly and holds a trout, which is the only measure that counts.
Should I buy dry flies or nymphs first?
Nymphs, if you only buy one type — trout do most of their feeding below the surface. In practice buy a few of each and fish them together on a dry-dropper rig, which lets the dry fly act as your indicator while the nymph does the catching.
Do I need a different fly box for dries and nymphs?
Not at first, but it helps. Dries need depth so the hackle is not crushed; nymphs can go in slim foam slots. One box with both a foam insert and a bit of depth covers a first season — see best fly boxes.
Where these figures come from
Read next
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Rocky Mountain Box
Starter Fly Box: Rocky Mountain Trout
The patterns and sizes for Rocky Mountain trout water, plus the regional assortment that covers them.