{"id":2482,"date":"2022-09-09T20:14:16","date_gmt":"2022-09-09T20:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outdoorsniagara.com\/?p=2482"},"modified":"2022-09-09T20:53:03","modified_gmt":"2022-09-09T20:53:03","slug":"guide-to-small-stream-fly-fishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outdoorsniagara.com\/guide-to-small-stream-fly-fishing\/","title":{"rendered":"Guide to Small Stream Fly Fishing"},"content":{"rendered":"
Don’t be fooled by the phrase “small stream fly fishing.”<\/p>\n
You can catch very large fish in small streams, especially if you are fishing in a stream where salmon run.<\/p>\n
When it comes to fly fishing, it is less about generalized fishing and more about specifically targeting the fish<\/a> that are available.<\/p>\n For that reason, you will show up with a fly rod set up to target a few species of fish, rather than fishing for whatever is there.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Contents<\/p> When you head out to go fly fishing, you want to think about what you are going to target<\/a> – the fish that are available in that stream.<\/p>\n Fish will vary by location, so it is important to know what you are facing and prepare a selection of flies for your fishing adventure.<\/p>\n Flies, which are mimics of insects and other organisms, may also have seasons where they are more effective.<\/p>\n That is because as the season progresses – spring into summer, summer into fall, fall into winter – the available food supply on a stream also changes.<\/p>\n We refer to this as The Hatch. Insects generally have a very short lifespan and in the course of a few days, their adult lifecycle may begin and end.<\/p>\n Fish, tend to understand that cycles can be impacted by water temperature, weather, etc.<\/p>\n To successfully fly fish you need to understand The Hatch.<\/p>\n When you choose flies for small streams or even large rivers, you do so based on the availability of The Hatch.<\/p>\n This is the basic menu that the fish are dialed into.<\/p>\n To make this more difficult, you also have to understand the various stages of life for insects.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Water insects, which include large numbers of flies have different stages in their life cycle.<\/p>\n Those include:<\/p>\n It sounds extremely complex and can be. In the old days, you pretty much had to have someone who was willing to show you what all of this meant.<\/p>\n You are essentially monitoring the above-water insects – adults – and the below-water aquatic insects, dragonfly naiads, mosquito larvae, midge larvae, etc.<\/p>\n From that knowledge, you can pull together a selection of flies that will be more successful if you toss them during the right window of time on any body of water.<\/p>\n We all this – Matching The Hatch – and that is a critical aspect of fly fishing.<\/p>\n Thankfully, there is a ton of information out there available to fly fishers who want to learn to improve their ability to toss flies successfully.<\/p>\n When you head out to fly fish, you target a species of fish – Trout, bass, salmon, pike, etc.<\/p>\n How you set up your rod is going to depend on what species of fish you target.<\/p>\n Sometimes, you set up for a group of fish, top water fish, fish that hunt by sight, etc.<\/p>\n Bass and trout often eat the same thing, but a salmon might not be interested in what either bass or trout are hunting.<\/p>\n In the case of salmon fishing, it is more behavioral than visual. For bass and trout, food selection is often visual.<\/p>\n If you check with your local fish and game government website, you will often find that they have painstakingly provided a bunch of cool information about the fish you will find in local streams, and many times, they will tell you about their feeding habits.<\/p>\n A good example of this is from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, which provides run-time information by species of fish.<\/p>\n Here’s a link to check out the information for the\u00a0Kenai River<\/a>.<\/p>\n Because Alaska is a huge territory and so many people travel there to fish, the ADFG has a lot of information to help people fish safely, and more successfully.<\/p>\n Many Fish and Game Departments will have similar information, especially for lakes and streams.<\/p>\n Fly rods are categorized by the weight of the fly they will handle.<\/p>\n A fly rod setup does not include a sinker so the weight of the fly is critically important.<\/p>\n Each fly rod will list the flyweight in a range so that you know the types of flies you can choose for that rod<\/a>.<\/p>\n If the fly is too large, the casting becomes difficult. If the fly is too small, the line will not go very far when you cast.<\/p>\n For small streams and smaller fish – a 2-4 weight fly rod will do just fine.<\/p>\n These can generally handle trout that are less than a foot in length – Brook Trout, Cutthroat trout, smaller bluegill, perch, etc.<\/p>\n Go for rod lengths between 7′ 6″ – 8′ 6″ – these will be strong enough to handle smaller fish and still give you accuracy for casting.<\/p>\n A 3-weight fly rod is a good average. There is an art to fly fishing for brook trout and cutthroat trout.<\/p>\n Walk through the backwoods and up the slopes where a small stream may hide deep holes.<\/p>\n There you can often find big Brown Trout and Rainbow Trout.<\/p>\n For bigger fish in small streams, you want to aim for a 5-weight fly rod.<\/p>\n This is perhaps the most common weight for fly rods, and it offers a lot of options for targeting most freshwater fish.<\/p>\n It will handle smaller bass, even largemouth bass, and bigger trout, including brown and rainbow trout.<\/p>\n You want a longer pole for bigger fish so opt for the 8′ 6″ – 9′ 6″ rods.<\/p>\nFly Selection for Small Stream Fly Fishing<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Species Specific Fly Fishing<\/span><\/h2>\n
What is a good small stream fly fishing setup?<\/span><\/h2>\n
Bigger Fish in Small Streams<\/span><\/h3>\n
Best Flies for Rainbow Trout?<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Best Flies for Brook Trout<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Braided Line for fly fishing<\/span><\/h2>\n