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Fly Fishing Illustrated

@flyfishingillustrated

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Beginner trout fly fishing guides
Flies • rigs • water • knots • trout behavior
🎣 Start here: 7 Places Trout Hide ↓

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Trout don’t need dramatic water. Look for the small changes: a soft bank edge, slower water beside a seam, the cushion behind a rock, or a deeper contour below a shallow shelf. 
Each can offer food, safety, and a way to save energy. Read the current first, then fish the closest believable hold. 
Save this before your next wade, and ask yourself: which feature would you fish first? 
#flyfishing #troutfishing #flyfishingtips #riverfishing #beginnerflyfishing Hand-drawn cutaway of one stream boulder showing algae, insect nymphs, oxygen bubbles, a sculpin, and a trout inside hidden pocket-water habitat. by @flyfishingillustrated

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2 months ago

Before you start casting a lake, look for the overlap. 
Wind, edges, depth changes, and food signs all help narrow down where trout are more likely to cruise and feed. Open water can look tempting, but your first good cast usually comes from reading the clues around it. 
Save this one before your next stillwater day. 
#flyfishing #troutfishing #stillwaterflyfishing #flyfishingtips #beginnerflyfishing by @flyfishingillustrated

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3 months ago

Trout don’t sit in the fastest water just to work harder. 
In a riffle, they usually hold where food comes by but the current costs less: soft edges, seams, pockets behind rocks, and slower tailout lanes. Look for the place where fast water delivers bugs and nearby soft water gives the fish a break. 
Save this before your next river day, then ask: where’s the food lane, and where can a trout hold without fighting it?  #flyfishing #troutfishing #flyfishingtips #riverfishing #beginnerflyfishing by @flyfishingillustrated

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3 months ago

Some of a rainbow trout’s color started as something it ate.

Diet supplies carotenoid pigments that can end up in its skin. Dark melanin and reflected light add other parts of the look, while maturation can change how much pigment accumulates in the skin.

So that pink band has a food history. It still can’t tell you what the fish ate this morning.

Save this for a closer look at your next rainbow trout.

#flyfishing #rainbowtrout #troutfishing #fishbiology #aquaticecology A detailed rainbow trout, a tiny aquatic crustacean and a magnified skin cell are linked by orange pigment symbols beneath the title “Trout Eat Their Colors.” by @flyfishingillustrated

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a day ago

A big fall dry that does two jobs. 
The Morrish October Caddis is a foam-bodied adult: six orange foam segments, a stacked hair wing, and a low tan foam lip up front. That low lip is what lets the same fly sit still or move. 
Start with a dead drift and let it come to you. If fish are looking up, add one short twitch or skate — but don’t drag it around the pool.
Bank lanes, soft pockets behind rocks, broken riffles: those are your first looks. 
Would you drift it first, or give it a twitch? 
#flyfishing #troutfishing #octobercaddis #caddisfly #dryfly by @flyfishingillustrated

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4 days ago

PARACHUTE ADAMS 🪶 Fly of the Week

Nothing hatching? This is a go-to searching dry. It suggests mayflies, midges, even caddis, rather than one exact bug.

The trick is the white post. It stands above the water so you can watch your fly, while the hackle lies flat and the body sits low in the film.

Quick field notes:
• Sizes: shown #12–#24. Bigger number = smaller fly.
• Try riffle edges, current seams, and drifts along the bank.
• Aim for a dead drift, moving with the bubbles. A V-wake means drag, and a splashy miss often points to drag too.
• Dab floatant on before the fly gets wet.
• In bright glare, a dark-post version can be easier to see.

Original Adams: Leonard Halladay, Michigan. Parachute-style hackle was patented by William A. Brush of Detroit in 1934.

Save this for your next dry-fly day. What size do you reach for first?

#flyfishing #dryflyfishing #troutfishing by @flyfishingillustrated

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8 days ago

Where do you start when every seam, rock, and bank looks fishy?

Where Trout Hide is our 29-page illustrated PDF for newer and improving trout anglers. Inside: seven places to check, first-cast notes, common mistakes, and practical checklists to help you approach new water with a plan.

Get your copy: by @flyfishingillustrated

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15 days ago

Brent’s War Bird is a size-12 tungsten-bead soft hackle made for getting below the surface in moving water. 
Start in a deep creek run or small river: let the bead sink, dead drift the fly through the lower water, then try one slight twitch if the drift comes up empty. The bead helps it reach deeper water; conditions set the depth. 
Save this for your next deep run. 
#flyfishing #troutfishing #tenkara #softhackle #riverfishing by @flyfishingillustrated

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17 days ago

GIVEAWAY: A Redington Original trout kit for one of you. 
This started as a 25K thank-you. We’re at 28K(ish) now, so yes, I took my time. 
The kit has a 9-foot, 5-weight rod, Crosswater reel, fly line, and carrying case. I hope whoever wins it gives it a good first day on the water. 
To enter, do both: 
1. Comment “TROUT ME” on this post.
2. Subscribe to the newsletter: link below👇or in bio 
U.S. only. Entries close September 29 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific. I’ll announce the winner September 30.  By entering, you release Instagram from any and all liability related to this giveaway. This giveaway is not sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Instagram. by @flyfishingillustrated

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22 days ago

I fished this Copper John Kebari this last weekend and it was incredible. I caught a pile of fish on it. 
The trick was giving that copper body time to get down: cast upstream, let it sink, drift it naturally, then add one small pulse if you need to wake it up. 
Save this one for your next deeper run or pool. 
Check it out 👇 by @flyfishingillustrated

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24 days ago

That trout isn’t facing the wrong way. It’s facing its local current. 
In a bank-side return lane, leaves can travel upriver while the main river keeps moving down. Before you cast, watch the tracers. If the fly can stay in that one lane, let it drift with the local flow… not the obvious current. 
If the fly skates or crosses the edge, reset. Save this for the next strange looking eddy. 
#flyfishing #troutfishing #readingwater #riverfishing #flyfishingtips by @flyfishingillustrated

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a month ago

A Griffith’s Gnat is a fuzzy, impressionistic dry for the moments trout are sipping midge clusters. Its peacock-herl body and palmered grizzly hackle create the silhouette; the hackle points help support it at the surface. 
Try it in smooth pools, shallow flats, or beside bank-side risers when you see that kind of feeding. Land upstream and let it drift without drag. If fish refuse it, try a single-adult midge. 
Save this for the next midge hatch. 
#flyfishing #troutfishing #griffithsgnat #midgefishing #dryflyfishing by @flyfishingillustrated

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a month ago