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Best Fall Fly Patterns for Trout
September 26, 2023
John Parisi
TCO Fly Shop Retail Sales Associate
Relentless Fly Fishing Guide
Best Fall Fly Patterns for Trout Collection
American Pheasant Tail Beadhead
A great stonefly pattern. Great on it's own, even better when fished as a pair. The beadhead will help you to get it where you want it.
Zebra Midge Black Tungsten Beadhead
Imitating the midge pupa as they ascend to the surface, our wide range will see you right when the hatch is on.
Black Mirage Zebra Midge
A great stillwater pattern, with the weight needed to get it down into the feeding zone.
Zebra Midge Olive Tungsten Beadhead
Imitating the midge pupa as they ascend to the surface, our wide range will see you right when the hatch is on.
Joe's Mini Crayfish Jig
From the vise of Joe Goodspeed, this mini crayfish interpretation is a phenomenal trout fly. Tight lining presentation the optimal way for fishing ...
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Best Fall Fly Patterns For Trout
Dry Fly Patterns
Streamer Patterns
Nymph Patterns
What are the Best Fall Fly Patterns?
Although most people think of trout fishing as taking place in the spring, the fall months can present trout fishing opportunities that rival spring conditions. Excellent streamer fishing opportunities open up as trout bulk and become more territorial prior to the winter months. Plus, fall hosts its own share of insect hatches that are worth getting out on the water for. See what TCO Bryn Mawr Employee and Relentless Fly Fishing guide John Parisi advises filling your fly box with before you hit the water this Fall season.
Now that fall is here it’s a great time to go through your fly selection and take inventory of what you need as the temperatures start to drop. There are a lot of changes taking place in our rivers this time of year. Our terrestrial insects are dying off, water temperatures are dropping, brown trout are spawning, there is a lack of heavy insect hatches, and there is an abundance of baitfish, just to name a few. Due to this, it is important to reevaluate your fly patterns and adapt to the changes in our waters. My nymph selection won’t change much, but I do bring a much larger variety of streamers out with me, and I always bring a condensed assortment of dries as well.
Let's dive into each pattern type and see what the best fall fly patterns are for trout.
Best Dry Fly Patterns for Fall
Here are some of my top dry fly patterns for fall:
Best Streamer Fly Patterns for Fall
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" The fall presents opportunities to target large trout as they seek to bulk up and keep their territory free from unwanted visitors. "
With the lack of aquatic bugs hatching, trout start to look for other high protein foods items. Sculpins, darters, leeches, and crayfish all start to become a larger portion of their diet. Our brown trout are fall spawners so they can get a little territorial as well. Due to this, the fall presents opportunities to target large trout as they seek to bulk up for the winter months and keep their territory free from unwanted visitors.
Streamer fishing can be great year round, however, fishing a streamer through the fall months can be especially rewarding. I usually put streamers into two separate categories, either small jig/nymph style streamers or larger articulated streamers. The jig/nymph style can be fished in a variety of ways with almost any size fly rod. I tie them from 1-3” long with a tungsten bead or cone for weight. They are the most versatile because they can be stripped in, dead drifted, or even fished with a euro nymphing setup. Larger articulated streamers like game changers need at least a 5 weight rod or larger to fish them well, and often perform best with a sinking rod. I usually save these for larger rivers or high muddy water, perfect for targeting trophy sized fish.
Best Jig/Nymph Style Streamer Patterns for Fall:
Croston’s Micro Rabbit Sculpin Natural or Olive
Larger Streamer Patterns for Fall
Bank Robber Sculpin Gray | Olive
Mini Drunk and Disorderly Chartreuse & White | Orange & Olive | Olive & Gold | Grizzly | White
Best Nymph Patterns for Fall
Although Fall is an excellent time to move big trout to a large streamer, you are going to want to be prepared with a variety of nymph patterns as well. Nymphs make up a large portion of a trout's diet year round, so you should be well equipped with some confidence nymph patterns any time you're trout fishing. Euro nymphing remains a highly effective method of fishing into the fall and winter months.
If you're looking for more information on euro nymphing, be sure to read our blog on What is Euro Nymphing by Frank Landis.
I always carry plenty of blue winged olive and midge imitations throughout the year, and that doesn’t change in the fall. Little bwo’s can hatch in big numbers on overcast drizzly days and trout will feed heavily on emerging nymphs as the hatch gets started. If I see any adult bwo’s on the surface, I’ll fish a pair of small thread body nymphs until trout start looking up. Zebra midges and small perdigons are some of my favorites in low water. I lean towards thin profile flies in clear water, size 16-20 seems to be the sweet spot. If we get some heavy rain and the visibility is bad, I’m less concerned with “matching the hatch” so I’ll fish brighter nymphs with hotspots like a sexy walts worm or blowtorch. Stonefly nymphs work great in higher flows or larger rivers, they also live for multiple seasons so they are always on the stream bottom in various sizes. Our spring creeks have plenty of scuds/cress bugs that are active year-round and can be a day saver if there’s not many bugs hatching.
Here are some of my top nymph patterns for fall:
Zebra Midge Red | Black | Olive
Hot Rib Walts Tan | Cream | Gray | Olive
Shop our Best Fall Fly Patterns for Trout Collection
Fall is a great time to get out on the water. You get spring like conditions without the crowds and pressure, and fish are focused on bulking up prior to the winter months.
Which of these fly patterns are you excited to try out this fall season?
American Pheasant Tail Beadhead
A great stonefly pattern. Great on it's own, even better when fished as a pair. The beadhead will help you to get it where you want it.
Zebra Midge Black Tungsten Beadhead
Imitating the midge pupa as they ascend to the surface, our wide range will see you right when the hatch is on.
Black Mirage Zebra Midge
A great stillwater pattern, with the weight needed to get it down into the feeding zone.
Zebra Midge Olive Tungsten Beadhead
Imitating the midge pupa as they ascend to the surface, our wide range will see you right when the hatch is on.
Joe's Mini Crayfish Jig
From the vise of Joe Goodspeed, this mini crayfish interpretation is a phenomenal trout fly. Tight lining presentation the optimal way for fishing ...
View full detailsBank Robber Sculpin Olive
A streamer fisherman's best friend. When you're pounding banks for large predatory trout, you want a fly that makes an impact. Enter the Bank Robbe...
View full detailsHot Rib Walts Gray Barbless
My version of the Walts Worm. I double rib these with GB floss and counter-rib with mono to protect the floss. Slim bodies ensure these get down wh...
View full detailsZebra Midge Red Tungsten Beadhead
Imitating the midge pupa as they ascend to the surface, our wide range will see you right when the hatch is on.
Red Mirage Zebra Midge
A great stillwater pattern, with the weight needed to get it down into the feeding zone.
Travis Para Ant Black
A great little traditional Cdc ant pattern. Trout love ants, and they especially love this one.
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John Parisi
TCO Bryn Mawr Retail Sales Associate and Relentless Fly Fishing Guide
Email John Parisi at John@tcoflyfishing.com
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