what do early season trout key in on

[Dugan]

started fly fishing for large mouth bass then a couple of years ago i got hooked on salt water bass and blues this year i want to add trout to my season adventure's but don't know what fly to use and when to use them
do you fish stocked trout different than wild trout

what type of fly and technique is productive right now mid March early April

[Eddy Merckx]

Purina pellet fly, of course!

http://troutflies.com.au/store/images/uploads/thumbs/thumb_pellet_fly_002.JPG

[beetlebomb]

The stocked trout act like wild trout pretty quickly. Ye olde pellet fly will work when you are right behind the trucks--I had a stocked trout attack and hold my indicator last week; otherwise, local stream knowledge helps. Early--and anytime--favorites are a prince nymph, black stone nymph, brown or black woolly bugger, and on top I will use various colors of elk-hair caddis. Once you see trout rising on something, figure out what it is and match it.
Have fun and know that trout fishing can be maddening, more so than your typical striper or blue fishing; however, like all fish, trout have to eat, so they will be fooled.

[maineguideman]

The two questions you asked are the subject of a multi-bilion dollar book / tackle industry and would be almost impossible to discuss in this forum. Yes they are vastly different. all rivers and all trout are different and some trout and rivers vary from section to section as well

[bdowning]

Bead-headed nymphs work too. The problem is that bluegills and even bass will go for them and you'll have trouble keeping them off the hook.

-bd

[titleguy]

Hard to go wrong with a conehead wooly bugger with a little flash in the tail.

Also- as just posted- beadheads- My go to sunny and perch fly is a size 10 bead head tellico nymph.:brow

[ShaneY]

for stockies I would say hares ear nymph and black, olive and chartruese wooly bugger. Wild trout will hit the buggers too, try a few nymphs using a strike indicator, constants seem to be flashback pheasant tail bead heads, hares ear and prince nymphs. If they are rising many of the area waters have blue wing olives and you should have a few midge flys. Hope this helps, and don't give up it took me a while to get okay at this. If your fishing moving water I would recommend reading Lefty Kreh's ultimate guide to fly fishing, there is a great section on how trout use the structure to feed and stay out of the current.

[gseries69]

Probably an impossible question to answer with out knowing more about what body of water and region you are fishing. April rivers in Mass are not the same as April rivers in VT. I think there are however some generalizations you can go by. First, most trout in early season are not keyed in on one insect. They are usually looking for whatever comes by that looks familiar. Most stone fly species have a longer nymphal life cycle then other insect species, some up to three years, so they are always available to trout making them a good early season fly. Mayflies in general are larger and darker in spring and get smaller and lighter in color as the season progresses. Again, this is very general and ther are a number of exceptions. The bead headed offerings recommended above imitate the stone fly and larger darker mayfly and are excellent early season flies. The first big hatch on most streams will the hendricksons or E. Subvaria. They have a one year life cycle and depending on where in NE you are will be close to maximum size in their nymphal stage in spring. Again, one of the reasons the hares ears and other bead head nymphs work so well.

Lake and pond fishing is another story. If you fish stills then you need only worry about one insect and that is the chronomid. Midges will usually be the most abundant insect on any given body of water after ice out. When you come upon a pond where you see dimple rises or even splashy rises in early spring, you can bet 99% of the time that they are on midges. You will catch trout on streamers but not nearly as many as when properly fishing a midge pattern.

[Tie-Dye-Fly-Guy]

as said there is a whole world of info about how to fool a trout. if you want to reduce the lore to one fly that has potential to catch the alpha male/female-wooly bugger with a lil flash would be my go to anywhere in the world. even better would be to tie your own. use long leader on floating line which can be tedious to cast or try a light poly leader with 4 foot tippet to insure getting down. variable strips once youve given it time to sink and get down and you will surely knock on someones door.

[teflon_jones]

If you only had one fly to use I would recommend a black woolly bugger.

Personally, I'd use Big Yellow. Thankfully nobody else ever uses this pattern or has any clue what it is because it's the most effective fly I've ever used.

[bonefishdick]

It's a funny thing Teflon would mention " Big Yellow " it was always my favorite fly too.

I thought it worked best on the newly stocked Browns the best. I like to tie mine on a size #10 3906B Mustad Hook.

[teflon_jones]

It's a funny thing Teflon would mention " Big Yellow " it was always my favorite fly too.

I thought it worked best on the newly stocked Browns the best. I like to tie mine on a size #10 3906B Mustad Hook.That's not Big Yellow, that's Little Yellow. Big Yellow could eat Little Yellow for breakfast and have room for more. ;)

Seriously, I tie a Little Yellow on a size 10 hook. :)

[kcpedaley]

The only other fly i would add is a Hendrickson to the list for places like the stillwater and quiny. One of my friends uses only small brown colored flies to match the hatchery food and does very well at a few ponds.