Fly Fishing Small Streams
In this article I am going to explain the best fly fishing technique that I know of for catching trout in small mountain streams. When I started using this technique I started catching dozens and dozens of fish. I have used this technique in a number of different locations and in all different kinds of conditions and it consistently produces fish for me.
I fish a “dry-dropper” setup. For fly fishermen who have been around for a while this is nothing new but for the individual who is fresh to the sport this technique is gold. Get a short leader (7.5 feet or so) because if you are fishing small streams a short leader will be much easier to keep from getting caught in trees and bushes. I like to fish a 5x or 6x.
The main advantage of the dry-dropper setup is that it allows you to fish a dry fly and a wet fly simultaneously. I like to fish a bushy stimulator fly as my top fly and grease it up really well with floatant. Then I tie a piece of 6x tippet through the eye of the stimulator and fish a size 14 bead head hare’s ear about 15 inches below that.
The top fly serves as your indicator for the hare’s ear so if the stimulator goes under the water you know to set the hook. Depending on the time of year, I often get a lot of action on the stimulator as well.
Mountain trout go nuts for this setup. I don’t have to worry much about “matching the hatch” and finding the perfect fly, I have found that this setup consistently produces regardless. That is not to say that you might not want to experiment with different flies, for example if I was fishing Yellowstone I would probably prefer a prince nymph as my bottom fly over a hare’s ear. I usually just stick to my traditional setup though and have tons of luck with it.
