Fly Fishing Small Streams
Posted By Kent Klewein on April 28, 2009
It’s late Spring and the Summer is just around the corner. This is the time of year I love to head up into the mountains and fly fish on the small headwater streams. My flies of choice are dry flies, because generally in these small streams the wild trout are opportunistic feeders and will take a well presented dry fly. The cool temperatures and well oxygenated waters can produce some great hatches and keep the trout looking up all season long.
As stated before, take care of these gem streams. They are the last truly wild trout waters we have left. Practice catch and release and don’t over fish them. If you pull up and see a car find somewhere else to fish and leave that 
angler in peace. Much of the enjoyment of fishing these small streams is the solitude.
You generally don’t need a large assortment of dry fly patterns for these streams. For the most part you should cover the major bug types found on trout water. For example, make sure to have caddis, mayfly, and stonefly patterns. If your fishing during the summer you should also pack some terrestrial patterns (Ants, Beetles, Grasshoppers). Attractor patterns like Royal Wulffs and Humpy’s are also good patterns to have on hand.
Yellow is always a great color on headwater streams during late spring and summer. I always carry yellow humpy and yellow stimulator patterns for this reason. The standard Elk Hair Caddis in tan and olive probably account for one of the most successful dry fly patterns regardless of what stream you fish. Parachute Adams is also one of my favorites. The white post makes it easy to see and the fly pattern does a great job of imitating many different mayfly species. If your making good presentations but getting no takers, change the size of your fly pattern, color, or style. I’ve been fishing where no other dry flies worked except a size 10 orange stimulator even though there were plenty of smaller bugs hatching.
I choose to wear a camoflauge shirt or earth tone colors when I’m fishing for wild trout. It really helps me get where I need to without spooking the trout. This is highly underated. If you spook the trout before you’ve made a cast your wasting your time. Pair the right color clothing with stealthy wading and you’ll be well on your way to catching loads of wild trout.
Don’t expect to land lunker trout on these streams. Most of your trout will be in the 6-12 inch range. That being said, I have landed some extroidinaryly large trout on these streams over the years. Also keep in mind a trophy trout on these waters could very well be a 12-14 inch wild trout. Next time your driving up to go trou fishing consider passing up the larger rivers for some solitude and wild trout on some of our wild trout headwaters.
I did some small stream backcountry fly fishing in the Cohutta last year, didn’t catch a dang thing but it was a great little jaunt. The jacks and the cohutta were remote enough to be by myself in the middle of the season, and the scenery was fantastic. If you have the means I highly recommend it… bring a buddy and there are backcountry campsites right on the river.
And speaking of terrestrials… I’ve found that all over the country dead drifting a black ant size 12 and stripping it back to you works in almost any conditions any time of year. I don’t know why, but from Maine to backwater in GA black ant size 12 is what I always fall back to when I’m not catching anything and I need to feel like I actually know what I’m doing. I still have yet to try any beetle pattern in all my years.
great report kent.
Kyle,
Thanks for the feedback man. I really appreciate you contributing to the blog.