04/06/2026
I use fewer flies today than ever before…�and I’m catching more fish.
Here are 4 things I got wrong with flies when I started fly fishing:
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1️⃣ Changing flies too often.�2️⃣ Ignoring small flies.�3️⃣ Carrying more patterns than a fly shop.�4️⃣ Shying away from junk.
1️⃣ Changing flies too often.�No eat? Change flies.
That was my move.
Now? I change presentation first—depth, angle, drift, speed.
Most of the time, the fly is fine.�It’s how you’re fishing it that’s off.
2️⃣ Ignoring small flies.�Big fish, big fly, right?
Not always.
Some of the largest brown trout I ever caught were on tiny dry flies.
And have you looked under rocks where you fish?
There are LOTS of bugs there, and most are smaller.
Your flies should be, too.
3️⃣ Carrying more patterns than a fly shop.�No matter the situation, I was prepared.
Name the hatch, I had every stage covered in my boxes.
Yet those flies matter less than 5% of the time.
So what do I use the other 95% of the time I’m fly fishing?�Confidence flies. And I narrowed my list down to five.
Comment “flies” and I’ll send you my top five flies that I always have with me when fishing for trout around the world.
4️⃣ Shying away from junk.�I thought natural = better.
And it is sometimes. There’s a reason so many fish are caught on nymphs like the Hare’s Ear and Pheasant Tail.
But sometimes trout like it dirty.
We’re talking junk flies, especially flies like the Squirmy Wormy.
Here’s the best part: Sometimes that “junk” is matching the hatch.
After a high water event, there are annelids knocked loose — so fish worms.
