Salmonidae

Rainbow trout

Oncorhynchus mykiss · 12–45 cm in rivers; lake-run fish commonly 50–70 cm.

By The Fly Desk

How it feeds

Rainbows are more willing drift-feeders than browns and will hold in faster, shallower water. They rise freely, take nymphs on the drop, and are quick to exploit a new food source — which is exactly why they colonise new water so aggressively.

How to fish for it

A good first target for a nymph rig because they hold in readable water. Fish upstream with a two-nymph rig and an indicator, and expect most takes in the first metre after the rig straightens out.

Flies that work: Hare and Copper · Pheasant Tail Nymph · Glow Bug · Parachute Adams · Zebra Midge

Rainbow trout in the ledger

Au Sable River
Northern Lower Michigan, United States
The spiritual home of American dry-fly fishing, with a night hatch worth losing sleep for.
brook · brown · rainbow
May · Jun · Jul · Sep
Bighorn River
South-central Montana, United States
A cold, stable tailwater with 3,000+ fish per kilometre and midge hatches in January.
brown · rainbow · whitefish
Mar · Apr · Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec
Davidson River
Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina, United States
The most accessible trout water in the southern Appalachians, and surprisingly technical.
brown · rainbow
Apr · May · Sep · Oct
Deschutes River
Central Oregon, United States
A desert canyon river with the biggest salmonfly hatch in the Pacific Northwest.
rainbow · steelhead
May · Jun · Sep · Oct · Nov
Farmington River
Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States
New England's most reliable tailwater, with a catch-and-release TMA that fishes in January.
brown · brook · rainbow
May · Jun · Jul · Sep · Oct
Fryingpan River
Basalt, Colorado, United States
Twenty-three kilometres of cold, clear water that made mysis shrimp famous in fly fishing.
rainbow · brown
Jan · Feb · Mar · Sep · Oct · Nov
Green River below Flaming Gorge
Dutch John, Utah, United States
A big, cold tailwater that grows enormous rainbows and hosts a genuine cicada hatch.
rainbow · brown · cutthroat
May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep
Henry's Fork of the Snake
Eastern Idaho, United States
The most technical dry-fly water in the lower 48, with weed beds that punish a dragged fly.
rainbow · brown · brook
May · Jun · Jul · Sep · Oct
Madison River
Southwest Montana, United States
A 183 km riffle-and-run river where dam releases, not rain, decide your fly.
brown · rainbow · whitefish
Apr · May · Jun · Sep · Oct
North Umpqua River
Cascade foothills, Oregon, United States
The home of the greased-line swing, and one of the last rivers with a fly-only steelhead reach.
steelhead · rainbow · cutthroat
Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct
Penns Creek
Centre and Snyder Counties, Pennsylvania, United States
Where the Green Drake hatch is a public event and the whole valley closes for a week.
brown · brook · rainbow
Apr · May · Jun · Oct
Pere Marquette River
West-central Michigan, United States
A national-forest river where fall steelhead run on autumn rain, not on a dam schedule.
brown · steelhead · rainbow
Apr · May · Sep · Oct · Nov
Río Grande
Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
The world's best sea-run brown trout river, at the end of the world.
sea run brown · resident brown · rainbow
Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr
River Test
Hampshire, England, United Kingdom
The birthplace of dry-fly fishing, and still the hardest place to fool a brown trout.
brown · grayling · rainbow
Apr · May · Jun · Sep
San Juan River
Navajo Dam to Farmington, New Mexico, United States
Sixteen kilometres of midge-and-mayfly water where a 50-fish day is unremarkable.
rainbow · brown
Mar · Apr · May · Sep · Oct · Nov
Soča River
Julian Alps, Slovenia
The only river in the world with a native marble trout, in water that looks photoshopped.
marble trout · grayling · rainbow · brown
May · Jun · Jul · Sep
South Platte — Deckers and Cheesman
Front Range foothills, Colorado, United States
Two rivers in one: a pocket-water canyon above and a walk-and-wade flat below.
rainbow · brown
Jan · Feb · Mar · Oct · Nov · Dec
Tongariro River
Taupō, North Island, New Zealand
The most reliable winter trout fishery in the southern hemisphere, in a volcanic valley.
rainbow · brown
Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct
Traun River
Upper Austria / Salzkammergut, Austria
Chalk-stream clarity with alpine gradient, and some of Europe's largest grayling.
brown · grayling · rainbow
May · Jun · Sep · Oct · Nov
White River, Arkansas
Ozark foothills below Bull Shoals Dam, Arkansas, United States
A tailwater you fish from a boat, where the generation schedule is the tide table.
brown · rainbow · cutthroat
Apr · May · Jun · Sep · Oct · Nov
Yellowstone River
Montana and Wyoming, United States
The longest free-flowing river in the lower 48, and the best native cutthroat fishery in it.
cutthroat · rainbow · whitefish
Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct