| Name | Hook Size | Months | Time of Day | Water Temperature (°C) | Fly Patterns | Fishing Tips |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Winged Olive | 12-16 | Feb, Mar, Apr, Aug, Sep, Oct | Hatches often occur in the worst weather. Rain, Snow, Damp Conditions. | 8-16 | Parachute BWO, CDC BWO Emerger, Pheasant Tail Nymph | Spring BWO often larger in general than Fall BWO |
| Pale Morning Dun | 14-20 | Jun-July | Morning, afternoon | 12-20 | PMD Sparkle Dun, PMD Cripple, PMD Nymph. Pheasant Tail Nymph. | Hot weather = earlier hatch. Cool weather= later hatch (cloudy = longer hatches) |
| Caddis | 14-20 | May-Oct | Can be all day. Heaviest in evenings. Caddis Pupa are always present | 10-22 | Elk Hair Caddis, Pheasant Tail, Brown Hares Ear, Soft Hackle Hares Ear, Sparkle Pupa Emerger. | Often, trout will refuse your adult but take an emerger in the same feeding lane. |
| Stonefly | 6-12 | May, Jun, Jul | Early morning. Like really early. Nymphs are always present. | 8-18 | Stimulator, Demoes Golden Stone, Chubby Chernobyl, Pats Rubber Legs | Focus on fast water and near banks. Use heavy tippet as these flies often attract larger trout. |
| Worms | 2-12 | Jan-Dec | All Day | 0-20 | San Juan Worms (wire and Chenille) | Use light tippets and small flies. Focus on slow-moving water and pools. |
| Leeches | 2-10 | Jan-Dec | All Day | 0-20 | Wooly Buggers, Black, Olive, White, Yellow | Use light tippets and small flies. Focus on slow-moving water and pools. |
| Bait Fish | 2-8 | Jan-Dec | All Day | 0-20 | Skiddish Smolt various colours | Use light tippets and small flies. Focus on slow-moving water and pools. |
| Ants | 12-20 | Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep | Anytime | 15-22 | Black Parachute Ant, Black Parachute Beetle | These bugs are often ignored but can be deadly. You need these in your box. Great in Riffles. |
| Beetles | 12-20 | Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep | Anytime | 15-22 | Black Parachute Ant, Black Parachute Beetle | These bugs are often ignored but can be deadly. You need these in your box. Great in Riffles. |
| Hopper | 6-10 | Jul, Aug, Sep | Depending on Air and Water Temps, Can be all day. Watch for active Hoppers on the bank. | 18-22 | Dave’s Hopper, Moorish Hopper, Yeti Hopper | Fish near grassy banks on windy days. Use heavy tippet as larger trout often target hoppers. |
Information from our Beginner Lessons Course
I use basic flies when I guide. No magic necessary. It’s more about knowing your feeding lanes and depths for the right presentation for the conditions.
Adams. Elk Hair Caddis. Pheasant Tail tungsten bead. Prince Nymph tungsten bead. Parachute Black Ant. Moorish Hopper. Demoes Golden Stone. Jimi Legs. Black Wooly Bugger. Red Wire Worm. Reece’s Pieces Worm, Brown Hares’ Ear tungsten bead. Squirrel Tail tungsten bead. Frenchie, CDC Emergers.
What Matters Most
Size – Pick something close to the same size as what you’re seeing on or in the water. Sometimes going a size bigger can help your fly stand out. Sometimes this works and sometimes it gets ignored.
The most common fly hooks range from size 1 all the way up to size 22 and smaller. The lower the number, the larger the hook. A size 2 hook is relatively large, and a size 22 will test your eyes and patience.
Profile – Take a look at the bug from underneath. This is what the fish see. Then do the same for your imitation. If it’s close and the same size as the natural. Fish it!
Colour– I find colour to be the least critical in fly selection. Most bugs you see on the water will be some shade of brown, olive, black or tan. We also have flies that have all kinds of flash in them. That said, some days they’ll only eat the green ones with the red tassels.
Aquatic bugs have different life stages, and we choose flies according to which stage fish are eating at a given time. Below are the definitions for the stages of hatching bugs. In other words, each aquatic insect can have a nymph, emerger and adult (dry) stage. Fly Fishing Nerds have an imitation for each stage.
Dry Fly– These flies float on the water surface. They often imitate the adult stage of aquatic insects.
Emerger Fly– These flies float just under the surface or in the surface film. This is the stage of the bug just before it transforms from the aquatic stage to a winged adult.
Nymph– These flies are fished below the surface. They represent the aquatic insects that are present in rivers and lakes. The nymph stage is the most important and abundant food source in most rivers. Aquatic insects spend most of their lives under the water.
Streamer: These are typically larger flies that represent bait fish and leeches in freshwater trout streams. They are fished with movement at different depths.
It’s important to spend some time observing. If you can spot how the fish are feeding, you’ve got critical piece of the puzzle.
Some basic behavior to look for:
Fish Feeding at or Near the Surface
If you see a fish splashing at a bug on the water, look closely at what’s happening. Often you are seeing the back and the tail of the fish only. This usually means this trout is eating just below the surface of the water. It may be feeding on the emerger just before it hatches, or the nymph on it’s way up through the water column.
If you see a slow dimple that leaves behind some bubbles. Check to see if you can see the fishes head and mouth as it rises to the surface. Typically, you’ll see the mouth open, suck in the fly and then either roll its back out of the water OR just sink back slowly into the water column.
Fish often feed in a pattern or cadence. I’ll often watch a fish for a long time before I ever throw a fly in its lane.
Fish feeding below the surface
You’ll usually notice a fish swaying left to right, moving upstream, then falling back in the current and rising slightly in the water column. Note if the mouth is opening and closing. You’ll see the white of the mouth when it opens. This is a good sign your fish is feeding on nymphs moving through its area. Note the depth and get a bug in its way.
What if you can’t see any feeding activity?
This is where you read the water and get a drift to a food lane. Depending on the bug activity, you may still try a dry fly or emerger if the water is shallow enough where the fish don’t have too far to move to eat your presentation.
The other option is to use a Dry Dropper or a Deep Nymph Rig depending on the depth and speed of the water you’re fishing.
The Basic Bugs
Caddis:
Caddis are those little moth looking things. White or grey wings and usually green, tan, or brown bodies. They flutter and float around willows near the bank. You’ve seen hundreds of them while camping and hiking and may have tasted one or two. On the water they can be very erratic and often appear to be bouncing off the surface.
The Caddis Pupa (Nymph), Emerger and Adult (Dry) are the most important to us fly fishers. There is the larval stage as well.
Imitations:
- Elk Hair Caddis
- Caddis Sparkle Pupa Emerger
- Hares Ear/ Squirrel Tail
Mayfly:
Mayflies are those little bugs with long thin bodies and clear wings that stick up like a sail. Bodies will be in several colours, and they have many different species. You are concerned with the size and profile.
The Mayfly life cycle is served by Nymphs, Emergers, Adult Dun (Dry) and Adult Spinners (Dry)
Imitations:
- Parachute Adams
- Mayfly Emerger
- Pheasant Tail Nymph
- Spinner Patterns, body colours to match the naturals.
Stoneflies:
These are big bugs.
The adults have thick, long bodies with wings flat on their backs. The nymphs look kind of like a scorpion without pinchers.
This is a relatively short-lived hatch experience in our neighbourhood. The Stonefly hatch lasts for about three weeks right around Stampede time, or around the time wild roses start to bloom. We’re interested in the nymph stage and mostly the female adults as dry flies.
Imitations:
- Demoes Golden Stone
- Pats Rubber Legs
Midges/Chironomids
These tiny little bugs look like mosquitos on the water, but they don’t bite. They are a year-round insect and sometimes the only bug on the water during cold winter months. As a Bow River guide, I don’t get to use these bugs very often and generally fish with larger bug imitations. If we see fish rising to these small insects, we’ll often tie on a Griffiths Gnat to imitate a cluster of naturals.
Terrestrials
Grasshoppers, Beetles, Ants, Crickets. No natural pics here. You know what they look like.
These are not aquatic insects, but are a very important trout food group. Mostly, these are just a lot of fun to fish. Typically, these guys are sputtering, fluttering, and carried away by the wind. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your point of view, they often land on the water. Trout are classic opportunists and will key on these bugs with unhealthy aggression!
Late July through September is my favorite time of year to fish the Bow or our other amazing rivers just because the Hopper Eat is ON!
Imitations:
- Moorish Hopper
- Parachute Black Ant
- Black Beetle
Fish, Leeches and Worms
Yes, Fly Fishers use worms too!
Leeches and Aquatic worms are a constant in the Bow River. Fish with either, or both at depth anytime of year and there’s a good chance you’ll hook up.
Keep in mind, big fish eat smaller fish and streamer fishing is a great way to imitate smaller fish.
Imitations:
- Wire (San Juan) Worm
- Wooly Bugger (Black, Purple, Brown, Olive)
