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Rivers

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Insects

Brown troutRainbow troutMountain whitefishBrook troutCutthroat troutSteelheadEuropean graylingMarble troutSea-run brown troutResident brown trout

Techniques

Reading waterMatching a hatchNymphingDry-fly presentationStreamer fishingSwinging a flyCatch and release, done properlyTying flies you will actually fish

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Insects

Salmonidae

Brown trout

Salmo trutta · Stream residents run 20–40 cm; lake- and sea-fed fish reach 60–90 cm.

By The Fly Desk

How it feeds

Brown trout switch from drift-feeding on nymphs as juveniles to ambush predation on fish and crayfish once they pass about 30 cm. The largest fish in any river are almost always in the deepest, darkest water and feed at night or at first light.

How to fish for it

Because they are wary and long-lived, browns reward patience over coverage. Fish for one fish at a time on a river where you can see them; on bigger water, work the structure with a streamer at dawn and switch to the dry fly when a hatch starts.

Flies that work: Woolly Bugger · Pheasant Tail Nymph · Comparadun · Sherry Spinner · Klinkhamer Special

Brown trout in the ledger

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