If I could only choose 10 patterns to fish for Western trout with, these would be the ones. Nowadays, it seems like everyone on the internet has their top flies, so I figured that I would share with you my top 10. Try setting up a box with your top 10 patterns and you’ll thank your back for not having to haul so many fly boxes around!
- Frenchie – Talk about a productive pattern! This is one of your euro nymphs that you definitely can’t do without. The different variations with this fly are endless as you switch up the colors, but the classic combo of shrimp ice dub, red tag, and gold bead will be more than enough to catch multiple fish. Fish it in sizes 14-18 for the best results.
- Elk Hair Caddis – Many western streams have an abundance of caddisflies throughout the year. The Elk Hair Caddis is my favorite as it rides high in the water with a hackled body and a deer/elk hair wing, it’s just simple and plain old fish catcher. You can cast it right into the riffles, or try skating and twitching it to get the attention of those native trout in high mountain streams. I recommend sizes from 14-18, but you can even throw on a size 12 every once in a while to entice a hungry fish. Most rivers have certain colored caddis, so maybe a little bit of homework would suffice, but brown, tan, olive, and black have always been consistent colors and should suffice.
- Bead Head Pheasant Tail Nymph – This is a classic in anyone’s box and is one of my favorites to tie. This is a great year-round nymph as you can fish it in multiple sizes ranging from 12-18, although my favorite sizes are in 14 and 16. If you enjoy tying your own flies, the variations with this pattern are endless, but my favorite is a copper or gold tungsten bead with similar colored wire and some peacock dubbing. Throw in a flashback or tie it on a jig hook and you’ll be good to hit your favorite stream.
- Zebra Midge – One of the simplest flies that you’ll ever tie, the Zebra Midge is simply a fish catcher. Normally fished in sizes 16-20, you’ll want to have a variety of colors, although my favorites are tied in red, black, olive, and brown. Don’t leave your house without it.
- Purple Haze – Don’t tell anyone else, but fish love purple. A variation of the classic Adams dry fly, the Purple Haze has become a staple in my box as I’ve caught many smaller trout in various streams. I prefer sizes 12-16 and love to tie it with a pink parachute so that I can see it easily in the water. Throw it to some rising trout and see why it’s one of my favorites!
- Rainbow Warrior – This is probably my favorite fly to tie either on a curved nymph or jig hook. Lance Egan killed it when he designed this pattern. A solid attractor and not an imitator of any particular bug, this fly will always have its place in my box. I recommend sizes 14-18 and if you’re tying it, a little bit of Sally Hansen’s “Hard as Nails” nail polish or UV resin should do the trick on the tinsel to ensure it doesn’t fall apart.
- Baby Fat Minnow – A revised minnow pattern tied on a carp hook, you won’t want to be on a lake or even a river for that matter without one of these babies. The guys down at Fly Fish Food definitely know what they’re doing to make a pattern like this. You’ll definitely want to tie these yourself so that you can customize them for Rainbows, Browns, or other trout with a Sharpie and see what they can do.
- Bead Head Leech – A classic pattern with a marabou tail and tied with longer fiber dubbing in a dubbing loop, leech patterns are as simple as you can get. Mix it up with different colors of materials and hone in your deadly combination for your local waters. One of my favorites go to mods on this fly is tying them with a fluorescent bead in hot orange or pink.
- Squirmy Wormy – No box is complete to fish for trout on streams or rivers without a trusty worm pattern. While the Squirmy Wormy is hard to tie due to the materials not wanting to stay on the hook, make yourself a variation. Use chenille, put on a tungsten bead, or buy a sturdier worm material to make them with. My favorite colors for this pattern are red and pink and it’s a one size fits all to the hook size.
- Griffith’s Gnat – A midge cluster imitation, this simple dry fly is responsible for my first fish on the fly rod as I casted in the headwaters of the Green River in the Wind River Range in Wyoming. Tied in sizes 16-20, this simple peacock and grizzly hackled fly will put fish on your line.