Overview

With everything slowing down, you need to adjust your rigs, fly selection, and locations.

• Extending your leaders to 9-15 feet can help keep fish un-spooked and lighter tippet can help your flies drift more naturally and spook fish less.
• Fly selection should become more narrow and imitative, compared to the large attractor patterns used in summer.
• Your location on the river should also change, as the fast riffles that held the coldest water become less desirable for fall trout. Slower runs and holes will begin to hold more trout.

Fishing Techniques & Tips

Check the weather forecast. Colder mornings can be unproductive, so focus efforts on the middle part of the day for more consistent hatches like BWOs and Caddis.

• Rain can be good! It can provide the fish with cooler water and bring up river levels, making them more comfortable and active.
• Cover a lot of water. Water levels in the fall can be low, so do your best to cover a lot of water when searching for fish. Especially when throwing dry flies and terrestrials. Sometimes rivers are crossable, so cross the river and work water that isn't usually fished.
• Keep throwing the hopper! Many anglers put away the hopper box in September, but this month can be one of the most productive for hopper fly fishing. Keep fishing that hopper and tie on a bead-head below it.

Perdigon Patterns

• Stages: Nymphs
• Colors: Brown, Light Brown, Green, Dark Olive and Black
• Hotspots: Blue, Dark Deep Red and Purple.
• Sizes: #14-20
• Bead-to-hook sizes:
  • #14-hook is tied with 3mm tungsten
  • #16-hook is tied with 2.8mm tungsten
  • #20-hook is tied with 2.5mm tungsten

<aside> <img src="/icons/tree_brown.svg" alt="/icons/tree_brown.svg" width="40px" /> Perdigons | When autumn arrives, trout and grayling change their hunting and holding places. They move to deeper currents or pools. In these conditions, with low water levels and crystal clear waters, fish prefer to stay down and feed cautiously. I usually set a bigger nymph, size #14, on my dropper, and a size #18 or #20 on top. The active fly is usually the smaller one, while the larger one serves to bring the smaller one into the feeding area. Popular colors for autumn perdigon nymphs are brown, light brown, green, dark olive, and black. Effective hot spot colors in autumn include blue, dark deep red, and purple.

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<aside> <img src="/icons/downward_red.svg" alt="/icons/downward_red.svg" width="40px" /> Check out my Top-5 patterns or Use the Tabs / Tab dropdown ▾ below to toggle between types of flies

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General Attractor Patterns

• Stages: Nymphs, Emergers, Dries
• Colors: Red, Pink, Brown, Yellow and Chartreuse Green
• Sizes: #12-20

<aside> <img src="/icons/tree_brown.svg" alt="/icons/tree_brown.svg" width="40px" /> General Attractors | Red, pink, and chartreuse green are my top-producing colors for fall fishing, in sizes #12–#16. These colors are highly attractive and, during the fall, can be especially aggravating to trout. As brown trout spawning takes place, these colors become even more effective and make a great pattern in a two-nymph setup.

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Midge Patterns

• Stages: Nymphs, Emergers, Dries
• Colors: Black, Olive, Brown, Purple
• Sizes: #16-24

<aside> <img src="/icons/tree_brown.svg" alt="/icons/tree_brown.svg" width="40px" /> Midges | Olive is the ideal color for this season in sizes #16–#20. Other options include brown, black, purple, and other dark shades. Lighter colors are less common in colder months, as dark colors help absorb heat.

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Mayfly Patterns

• Species:  Trico, PMD, BWO/Baetis
• Stages: Nymphs, Emergers, Dries, Spinners
• Colors: Olive, Brown, Black, Purple
• Sizes: #16-24
• Hatch Conditions: For fall mayflies, peak hatches will happen when the water temp is over 46 degrees.