Dry FlyintermediateRocky Mountain West
$3.50
The Comparadun was born from the radical notion that maybe trout do not care about hackle as much as fly tiers do. Al Caucci and Bob Nastasi created a fly that sits in the film with a deer hair wing fanned like a tiny satellite dish, and it turns out the fish agreed with their thesis. On smooth spring creeks where trout have earned PhDs in pattern recognition, this is often the last fly standing between you and a blank day.
Henry's Fork
ID · Spring Creek
Missouri River
MT · Tailwater
Map unavailable. Locations for Comparadun: Henry's Fork, ID; Missouri River, MT
seasonal playbook
Summer is fly fishing's season of abundance. Sixteen-hour days, prolific hatches, aggressive fish, and the full spectrum from mountain trout to saltwater flats. This is your playbook for making the most of the warmest, longest, most generous months of the fishing year.
species science
Trout don't see the world the way we do. They perceive ultraviolet light, detect motion through contrast rather than color, and see a dramatically different fly at ten feet of depth than at two. Once you understand their four-cone visual system, you'll never choose a fly the same way again.
hatch guide
Mayflies are the foundation of trout-stream entomology. This guide covers every major hatch — BWOs, PMDs, Green Drakes, Sulphurs, Tricos, and Hendricksons — with the biology, timing, and fly selections you need to fish them effectively across the country.
hatch guide
Trout eat more insects during emergence than at any other stage. Emerger patterns — flies that imitate the critical moment when a nymph transforms into an adult in the surface film — are the most consistently effective dry flies in fly fishing. Here is the science and the technique behind fishing the in-between.
technique
Ninety percent of a trout's diet is consumed subsurface. Yet ninety percent of the magazine covers show a dry fly floating on calm water. The decision between nymphing and dry-fly fishing isn't about preference — it's about reading the situation and making the choice that puts your fly where the fish are actually feeding.
Dry FlybeginnerRocky Mountain West
#12 - #22
Tied by Andy Carlson
The universal dry fly. Grizzly hackle, white post, dubbed body. If you cannot identify the hatch, tie on an Adams.
Rainbow Trout · Brown Trout · Cutthroat Trout · Brook Trout · Mountain Whitefish
Dry FlybeginnerRocky Mountain West
#12 - #18
Tied by Chris Krueger
Al Troth's iconic caddis imitation. Elk hair wing, palmered hackle. Floats like a cork in fast water.
Rainbow Trout · Brown Trout · Cutthroat Trout · Brook Trout
Dry FlyintermediateRocky Mountain West
#14 - #22
Craig Mathews' flush-floating mayfly emerger. Deer hair wing, trailing Z-lon shuck. Sits in the film like a natural.
Rainbow Trout · Brown Trout · Cutthroat Trout
Dry FlybeginnerRocky Mountain West
#8 - #16
Oversized attractor dry that suggests stoneflies, caddis, and hoppers depending on size and color. A western staple.
Rainbow Trout · Brown Trout · Cutthroat Trout · Brook Trout
Dry FlyintermediateRocky Mountain West
#16 - #22
Mayfly imitation for Baetis hatches. Olive body, dark dun wings. The cold-weather dry fly that saves slow days.
Rainbow Trout · Brown Trout · Cutthroat Trout
Dry FlyintermediateRocky Mountain West
#14 - #20
Ephemerella mayfly imitation in pale yellow. One of the most important western hatches from June through August.
Rainbow Trout · Brown Trout · Cutthroat Trout