Flies I Can't Live Without - Summer Edition

Summer is upon us, and this means new tactics and new hatches for trout! Leave the big streamers at home and get specific with your hatch matching as trout move into skinnier water and start getting picky & spooky about what they eat. 

1. Pat's Rubber Legs w/ Extended Body

From April - September this fly is almost always on my nymphing rig, usually as my point fly. I've found even fish that are sipping size 20 caddis emergers have a tough time turning down a big juicy stonefly if presented to them in the proper manner. The extended body version of this fly is virtually all I fish now as I really prefer to have the short-shank hook when fighting bigger fish.

 A chunky rainbow that fell for my extended body Pat's on a recent outing.

2. Beadhead Isonychia Nymph

I usually carry a ton of different pheasant-tail nymph variants with me to imitate all sizes and colors of mayfly nymphs. So it goes without saying that you shouldn't be without your own personal arsenal of smaller pheasant-tail nymphs in sizes 12-16. But when Iso's are hatching, which they tend to do in the warmer months, matching the hatch can be pretty essential to catching fish, and these nymphs are much bigger and buggier than all other mayflies so they require special care to imitate. Size 8-10 darker-colored pheasant-tail nymphs usually do the trick, but I tie mine to be especially imitative with a line of flash down the back, imitating the characteristic wing-casing pattern found only on Iso's.

3. Soft-Hackle Carrot Nymph

Probably my 2nd most commonly-used nymph in the warmer months. This fly works especially well in the summer due to the greater presence of caddis pupae, but I also think trout will take it cause it could be a variety of mayfly nymphs as well. It's really just an especially-eye-catching version of a traditional Hare's Ear nymph.