Flies & Fly Tying
What Flies to Use for Trout
Not a list — a method. Four things to look at before you open the box, and what to do when nothing is happening.
Beginners ask which fly to use and get given lists. Lists do not travel: the right fly on a Montana freestone in July is wrong on a Pennsylvania spring creek in April. What travels is the method for deciding, and it takes about five minutes to learn.
The short list
| # | Pick | Best for | Score | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Orvis Essential Trout Fly SelectionPre-packaged assortmentBest Overall | The assortment this method assumes you are choosing from | 7.8 | Check price on Amazon |
| 2 | Orvis Essential Trout Nymph AssortmentNymphs onlyBest Value | For the common case: nothing is rising | 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 |
The four-step method
- Look at the surface for thirty seconds. Are fish rising? If yes, you are fishing a dry fly. If no, you are fishing a nymph. This single observation decides more than anything else you will do.
- Look at the air and the water for insects. Anything flying, anything drifting, anything stuck in the foam line at the edge. You are not identifying species — you want approximate size and color, nothing more.
- Match size first, color second, pattern last. A size-16 gray something will catch fish eating size-16 gray insects, whatever its name. Getting the size wrong is what causes refusals.
- If nothing shows, fish a nymph near the bottom. Beadhead Pheasant Tail, size 16, in the seams and behind rocks. This is the default state of trout fishing and it accounts for most of the fish anyone catches.
Reading a rise
| What you see | What it usually means | What to fish |
|---|---|---|
| A clean ring, fish barely breaking | Taking small insects on the surface, confidently | A small dry fly, 16-18, and a careful drift |
| A splashy, aggressive rise | Chasing something moving — caddis, or a terrestrial | Elk Hair Caddis, or an ant or beetle |
| A bulge or boil, nothing breaking | Taking emerging insects just below the surface | An emerger, or a nymph fished very shallow |
| A tail or back showing | Feeding on the bottom, nowhere near the surface | A nymph, deep. Not a dry fly |
The last row is the one that costs beginners afternoons. Visible fish are not necessarily surface-feeding fish, and casting a dry fly over a trout that is eating nymphs off the gravel will not work however good the drift is.
When they refuse the fly
- Check your drift before anything else. If the fly is dragging across the current, change nothing in the box — fix the drift. Cast with slack, or reposition so the current between you and the fly is more even.
- Go one size smaller. The single most effective change you can make, and it works far more often than switching pattern.
- Lengthen or lighten the tippet. In clear water a heavy tippet is visible and it also stiffens the fly's drift — leader vs tippet.
- Then change pattern. Last, not first, and change category rather than brand: dry to emerger, or dry to nymph.
The three questions worth asking a local fly shop
- “What is working this week?” Not this season. Fly shops track it daily and will tell you for free.
- “What size?” The answer is more useful than the pattern name, for the reasons above.
- “Where can I legally and safely wade?” Local knowledge on access and hazards is worth more than any fly.
Then buy four of whatever they recommend. That twenty-dollar transaction is the highest-value purchase in fly fishing, and it is why the regional starter boxes on this site are a substitute for a fly shop rather than a replacement for one.
Questions people actually ask
How do I know which fly to use?
Start with the surface. If fish are rising, fish a dry fly roughly the size and color of whatever you can see in the air. If nothing is rising, fish a beadhead nymph in size 16 near the bottom. That covers the large majority of days.
Does fly pattern or fly size matter more?
Size, clearly. A correctly sized fly of the wrong pattern catches far more fish than a perfectly matched pattern in the wrong size. Match size first, color second, pattern last.
What fly should I use when nothing is rising?
A beadhead Pheasant Tail nymph in size 16, fished close to the bottom in the seams and behind rocks. No visible surface activity is the normal state of a river, and nymphing it is how most trout get caught.
Do I need to learn entomology to fly fish?
No. You need to notice approximate size and color, which takes thirty seconds of looking. Latin names are an interesting hobby within the hobby, not a prerequisite for catching fish.
Where these figures come from
Read next
Best Trout Flies
Best Trout Flies for Beginners
Six patterns catch most trout. The assortments that cover them, and why a 100-fly kit is the wrong first buy.
Flies & Fly Tying
The Dry-Dropper Rig, Explained
How to set up a dry-dropper rig: spacing, flies, knots and the mistakes that cause tangles.
Best Nymphs
Best Nymphs for Trout
Four nymph patterns that catch trout almost anywhere, plus the nymph-only assortments worth owning.
Best Dry Flies
Best Dry Flies for Trout
The four dry-fly patterns that cover most rises, and the assortments that include them.