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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

Mountain whitefish

Prosopium williamsoni · 25–45 cm, rarely over 50 cm.

By The Fly Desk

How it feeds

Mountain whitefish are bottom feeders with a subterminal mouth, built for picking aquatic insect larvae and small crustaceans off gravel. They shoal in the deeper tailouts and are the first fish to react when a heavy nymph drift is on the bottom.

How to fish for it

Often dismissed as a nuisance, whitefish are a useful signal: if you are catching them consistently on the bottom, your nymph depth is right and the trout will be in the same seam, slightly higher in the water column.

Flies that work: Pheasant Tail Nymph · Hare's Ear Nymph · Zebra Midge · Prince Nymph

Mountain whitefish in the ledger

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