This week’s picture is brought to you by Glenn.
A great catch at Pyramid Lake, Nevada! Glenn caught this on a RiverBum black krystal flash bugger and trailed a copper john behind it.

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I’ve written at least one tip on this before so forgive me if I repeat myself but I’m likely to spend several nights out on the river in the next week and so it was fresh on my mind. Night time can be the very best time to catch big fish, especially big brown trout and brook trout that may not ever feed other than at night. Here are a few things to remember when out after dark.

Use dry flies with a visible silhouette. This applies to the fish and to you. As visibility decreases go up in size on your dry flies and use flies that ride high on the water like large caddis, drakes, stimulators, and Wulff patterns. Also, position yourself to use the glare of the sunset or the moon to see the fly or at least the rise.

Try a little movement. Dead drifts are great and usually required for picky fish in the daytime but as darkness settles on the water a skated, skittered, or otherwise moving dry fly can entice vicious strikes.

Be safe. Remember where you can and can’t cross heavy currents. Also, remember that a whole host of unsavory critters (skunks, snakes, and of course the more feared but probably less dangerous large creatures [read Sasquatch]) are nocturnal and can ruin your evening. Wear a headlamp or carry a flashlight for the trek back from the water.

This week’s picture is brought to you by Dominic, Noe and Monique.
A great family outting in Feb of this year. Everyone has a nice bow in hand, nice work all!

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This time of year is my absolute favorite time to be fishing in the West. As water starts to clear and drop some of the year’s best hatches of big bugs start and fish basically go crazy for a few weeks.

Look for big hatches of golden stoneflies and match them with yellow and orange stimulators and other hatch matching stonefly patterns. Remember not to overlook nymph fishing with stonefly nymphs before and after the egg laying flights of the stoneflies get going.

On rivers where they are present look for salmonflies. These things are king sized candy bars to trout so strikes can be absolutely vicious. However, beware that fish seem to gorge themselves on salmon flies so if you don’t hit the first few days of the hatch it can be a frustrating affair - big bugs all over and no feeding fish. If that seems to be the case hurry several miles upstream to see if you can get ahead of the hatch.

Also look for green drakes on many Western waters. These hatches can be hit or miss but when you hit hang on. A large fat rainbow on the Henry’s Fork taught me that lesson well when I was a kid. I had never fished green drakes, just happened to be in West Yellowstone with the fam, and had an amazing day culminating with an epic fight and break-off of a rainbow that was probably almost 5 pounds. Yep, I was hooked. Be sure to fish nymphs, emergers, adult, and cripple green drake patterns at the appropriate stages of the hatch.

Most of all just be sure to get out and enjoy this time of year.

This week’s picture is brought to you by Ryan.
We had fished all morning with limited visibility, but then began to get into some bones only to be broken off. However, this pig was hungry, and it ingested the fly completely! The fish was hooked on its coral/shell smashers. So, after a 30 minute fight around seemingly every coral head near China Man’s Hat, we landed the beast. Epic!

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From time to time I get the question - “what flies should I use on my stream?” from places that I’ve never been nor fished. The only answer I can really offer without more information is to suggest starting with the basic nymphs, dries, and streamers and experimenting from there. When I fish in a new spot I do some investigative work first by internet and/or phone but, upon arrival, by looking at the water and reading the signs. Here are a few things to try to be able to select a reasonable fly and hopefully get you into fish faster.

Look for fish. If fish are at all visible see what they are doing. Rising fish are easy to spot. If they are rising go with a dry fly or an emerger. If they are visible under water and are moving quickly from side to side in a feeding manner then drift a nymph to them. If they are visible and sitting still they may not be feeding. Try a nymph, then maybe a streamer pulled across current in front of them.

Look for flies. If flies are visible floating on the surface and fish are rising - jackpot - match them in size, shape, and color in that order. If flies are visible on the surface and no fish are rising then determine what kind of flies they are and find a nymph that is an appropriate match for the nymph of that species and match it in size. An entomology guide book can help you match the nymph to the adult. If no flies are visible on the surface start turning rocks and determine what size and type of nymphs are most prevalent and match them. You should also try to use a seine to determine which insects are actually drifting.

A very general but good rule of thumb for trout streams is that in cold water and tailwaters go small, size 22-16. In freestone streams go bigger, size 16 - 10. In fast pocket water use a little larger and visible attractor patterns. In smoother, slower water match the bugs as closely as possible with usually a smaller fly.

Fly fishing is an amazing but very enjoyable exercise in problem solving. Use these techniques to read your stream and find the right fly, then, well rigged anyway, you can work on the other problems of approach and presentation.

This week’s picture is brought to you by Jared.
This picture was taken somewhere in Colorado, that somewhere must be a secret because you don’t see a brown of that size very often!

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One of the lucky side effects of dams is the creation of trout habitat in the tailwaters below them. The damming of rivers, and resultant cooling of the rivers below has added thousands of miles of trout stream habitat in the U.S. alone and has expanded the range of trout to parts of the country where trout were once unheard of.

Tailwaters create interesting ecosystems, not unlike large spring creeks in water chemistry and biology. Here are a few simple tips, some good bugs, and things to remember when fishing streams or rivers below dams.

1. Go small, especially close to the dam. The very cold water that comes from bottom release dams doesn’t usually grow large insects. Some typical sizes are 24-16 for most dry flies and nymphs. There are always exceptions but as a general rule, your size 12 attractor patterns are better left for free flowing river systems or a little warmer water far downstream.

2. Match bugs exactly. Tailwaters tend to produce large numbers of bugs so fish get very good at knowing what they are eating. Try to match the local insects in size and shape first, then get the color right too if you can.

3. Nymph fish first, then try dries. Many tailwaters produce large numbers of aquatic invertebrates that never turn into flying bugs. Scuds, aquatic worms, and sowbugs are often very abundant in tailwaters. With so much drifting protein, many tailwater trout never really need to grab anything at the surface.

4. Remember that tailwaters have different hydrology than other rivers. Some large hydroelectric dams vary their outflow according to energy needs, creating flows that fluctuate enormously, while some dams have very stable outflows, far more stable than a river formed by snowmelt or rainfall. It is wise to check with local fly shops and government agencies about what to expect out of the tailwater you plan to fish. You can check the current flows on our site here.

5. If regulations allow it, try your local tailwater during the winter and hot summer months. The water temperature of most tailwaters varies very little throughout the year. During the winter it will be warmer than everything else and during the summer it will be cooler. This makes it possible to fish many tailwaters at basically any time of the year.

Use local knowledge and good maps, or even simply Google earth or similar products, to locate a tailwater near you and you may just find out that there are year round trout fishing opportunities near you almost wherever you might be.