The Best GUIDE Flies For Brook Trout: What GUIDES use.

fishing brook trout in ontario — This was caught by one of my clients, on an attractor pattern that I use. This one pattern catches over 80% of the brook trout my clients catch.

I’ve been guiding for brook trout for over 20 years, and there are some flies that just catch a lot more brook trout than others do.

I’m about to reveal to you the flies that are proven to be the most effective flies for brook trout. No BS

Yes, guiding for over 24 years and fishing for brook trout for about 40 years, has taught me the flies consistently produce fish.

In this article, I will show you my most effective flies that I use to get my clients into more fish, flies that other guides use to consistently catch trout in Ontario, and flies that other guides don’t want you to know about.

And believe me, I live in Ontario, Canada, minutes away from many brook trout streams, and I think I have run thousands of fly patterns past brook trout in all types of conditions.

These 10 flies are my go-to flies, or should I say “Must-have brook trout flies”.

But, also, as a bonus for all you guys, I have a guide tip you should know before selecting your next fly. And something many of you have been asking for, I just updated this page with pictures of my fly box and my most productive flies. See all that below.

Best Dry Flies For Brook Trout

Ontario Brown trout flies — This is one of my favorite dry fly patterns for brook trout and brown trout. This fly has caught me a lot of brown trout over 20 inches while dry fly fishing, but when matching mayfly hatches, it is a killer for brook trout too.

Dry fly fishing is a technique where anglers use lightweight, floating flies to mimic insects resting on the water’s surface, enticing fish to rise and strike.

It emphasizes visual cues, requiring skillful casting and a delicate presentation to avoid spooking the fish.

Dry flies must sit on the surface of water properly; they must be buoyant enough not to sink, and in some cases, they will either closely imitate the natural bugs, or in other cases, they can just be an attractor fly that does not resemble the natural at all.

Royal Coachman or Royal Wulff

The Royal Coachman fly is by far my most effective dry fly when the brook trout are not feeding heavily on natural.

Even when they are feeding on naturals, they still find it hard to resist.

I use it in sizes 10 to 16, with my go-to size being a 14.

If you don’t tie your own, you can buy it and many other flies here.

Elk Hair Caddis

Fishing Shelter Valley Creek is good for brook trout. — Brook trout fishing in Shelter Valley Creek can be very good.

Elk Hair caddis is likely my second most effective fly for brook trout.

It works great dead drifted, but when the fish are not active, dragging it or skittering it across the surface can turn inactive fish into biters.

My go-to size is size 14, but I use this pattern in sizes 10 to 18.

Other great dry flies include:

The Humpy – With a yellow, or orange, or red body
March Brown
Adams
Stimulator
Beetle
Griffiths Gnat

Whether you tie these flies the traditional way or with a parachute wing, they both work as long as the fly rides high. I have noticed that most of the time, the higher the fly rides, the more fish will eat it.

Best Nymphs For Brook Trout

Anyone who knows me knows I specialize in nymph fishing. I love it.

Many times I have found that when it comes to nymphs, the brook trout want nymphs with some sort of attractor, such as flash or color.

I have a few great nymphs that are hard to beat. You should have a variety of colors and sizes. Flash can mean a beed, or ribbing like you see in the image below. I’ve even used flies with an all-silver body and these flies have been hot on some days.

I still remember fishing when I was about 20. I ran into an angler who was walking down the river. He was early forties. I asked him how the fishing was. He said it was nto good and he was very disappointed considering he’s heard a lot of great things about the section of river we were fishing.

He asked how I was doing, and I replied, “Really good, actually”. I showed him a bright silver body fly and said, “I’ve caught around 30 all on this fly” I gave him one, and when I ran into him again 3 hours later, he claimed he just had the best day of brook trout fishing ever.

Guys, this story is meant to show you that sometimes, bright, flashy flies can be the hot fly of the day.

If you want to know what that silver fly was, it was a Michigan Wiggler tied with silver for the body, with silver tinsel ribbing.

Since then, I have experimented with adding a silver body or some type of silver flash to other patterns and have had great results. One of my hottest flies is the all-silver tinsel frenchie with a hare’s ear color, or the sexy walts worm with extra-thick silver tinsel.

This is one of my most productive flies; I've been catching small and large trout on it. — This is one of my most productive flies; I’ve been catching small and large trout on it.

UPDATE: Another hot fly I’ve been using lately is a metallic pink bead head Hares Ear tag Nymph , or Walt’s Worm. It has to be the Metallic Pink – See the bead HERE

Frenchie Nymph or the Tungsten Bead Hot Spot Pheasant Tail Jig Fly (Basically, the same fly, just one has a jig hook)
Rainbow Warrior – See it HERE
Walts Worm and Sexy Walts Worm – See HERE
Micro Bugger – green, black, and olive – See Image Below
San Juan Worm – See Image below

This is the Sexy Walts worm which is one of my best steelhead flies. — This is the Sexy Walts worm, which is one of my best steelhead flies. You get them at Amazon as the Region Fishing-Tungsten Walts Sexy Worm Jig-Head fly.

Brook trout, especially big brook trout love worms, which is why I do so well with this fly.

The authors micro-bugger fly. — The author’s micro-bugger fly. It is 1.25 inches long.

Selecting The Right Fly For Ontario Brook Trout – Guide Tip

Fly fishing for Ontario brook trout can be the best method to catch them — Brook trout like shiny flies so using bright fly patterns like this Rainbow Warrior fly can be a great way to catch more Ontario brook trout.

A young angler just asked me about fly selection for catching brook trout. Clearly he’s done his homework and is learning the hatches, and he’s been trying to match the hatch. However, I will tell you something I’ve learned from fishing brookies for 40 years.

Most of the time, you DO NOT need to match the hatch for brookies.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what the books and magazines say, and I know what all the YouTube videos and all those self-proclaimed gurus online all say. Trust me, I’m on the water 7 days a week trying flies so realistic it takes an hour to tie just one fly… and most of the time the brook trout will eat flies that do NOT look like the ones you see on the water, especially when it comes to nymphs.

Most days when I am guiding and nymphing, I will completely ignore the hatch and instead cycle through proven flies that I know work, like all the ones listed above.

So, if there are caddis all over the water, I don;t put on a caddis nymph first, I put on something like a Frenchie, or Pink hares ear, or a Rainbow warrior… Then fish it well and let the fish tell me if they want it or not.

If they don’t want those flies, then I’ll try matching the hatch. Why? Two reason, 40 years of experience….

Yep, I’ve determined that many times, there are so many natural insects in the water that using a fly that stands out like a sore thumb will grab their attention better.

Now, this applies for nymphing a whole lot more than it does for dry flies.

With dry flies, I’ll usually start with matching the hatch as best as possible. I’ll start with a smaller version and work my way bigger.

But there are days when they are sucking size 16 caddis off the surface, and I’ll throw a size 10 beetle or Royal coachman at them, and they smash those stand-out flies.

Guys, think outside the box, try attractor patterns even during the big hatches.