Fly Fishing for Brown Trout

Brown Trout

Salmo trutta

Freshwater
Saltwater
Fly Fishing for Brown Trout

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Rods

AFTMA 3 on small streams to AFTMA 7 on big lakes.

Lines

Mostly floating lines for rivers and sinking lines for lakes.

Brown trout come with a built-in bonus. So varied and eye-catching is their colouration that their size becomes an irrelevance. From speckled silvery bars to red-spotted stunners with bellies the colour of butter, there is no such thing as a ‘too-small’ brownie: you’re too mesmerised by their looks to care. 

Wild brown trout are found in rivers and still waters all across the world with an average river fish weighing three-quarters of a pound, while lake fish can go to several pounds. 

Stick to trout fishing’s ‘shoulder seasons’ of March-June and September and you can catch brown trout throughout the day. Come the high season of July and August, however, the brownies will save their feeding energy for the cooler periods of early morning and around dusk, so save your fishing for those times or else on overcast days, when heat isn’t a factor.

How to fly fish for brown trout

Fussy about the water it calls home, brown trout are found in cool, highly oxygenated water; in the faster upper stretches of rivers or chalk streams, or near weirs, where the water is more active and so absorbs more oxygen. They can also be found in unpolluted stillwaters. Many commercial stillwaters, run specifically as fisheries, stock brown trout but that doesn’t make them the easier option when it comes to catching one. Stocked brownies are notorious for disappearing the moment they are introduced to a fishing lake, to the despair of fishery owners and their customers alike.

That same instinct for self-preservation is found in wild browns, too. These are very savvy fish and they are not easily caught. 

Their colours can make them hard to spot (get in the habit of looking for their shadows on the river bed rather than for the fish themselves) and they are easily scared.

You must therefore land your line and fly gently on the water and de-grease your leader so it sinks beneath the surface, where it is less obvious. It can pay to fish just after rain has put a bit of colour in the water, so that the brownies can’t inspect your fly as thoroughly as they might.

These solitary home birds can find a watery lair and stay there for some time, so fish around undercut river banks, overhanging vegetation or fallen trees, especially if there is a nearby current providing a conveyor belt for food. Mid-stream, browns are often found next to submerged boulders, awaiting food.

A large brown trout
A large brown trout

What are the best flies for brown trout?

Brown trout feed deep early in the season, on shrimp, caddis and nymphs, before gradually ascending as water temperatures rise, until they are picking off midges, sedges and up-winged flies on the water’s surface.

So, when deep underwater patterns are called for, try a Hare’s Ear, Pheasant Tail Nymph, Montana Nymph, March Brown Nymph or Peeping Caddis. 

Traditional wet flies will serve you well on wild trout stillwaters when you fish the shallows or the water around any points of land that jut out into the lake. Try a Black Pennell, Silver Butcher, Invicta or Blae and Black.

And when the brown trout start looking to the surface for their food, put a Griffith’s Gnat in front of them, or an Adams, Elk Hair Caddis or Blue-winged Olive. If the fish are ‘sipping’ in flies just below the surface, use a Shuttlecock or CDC Emerger. And of course: once there is a may fly hatch you'll know. Then it's time to tie on one of the most infamous flies, and they'll go for it like crazy.

Once trout grow beyond 12 inches in length, their attention will also turn to small fish as a food source. Try Woolly Bugger or Zonker patterns to cater for this demand.

More tips for brown trout flies

Want to get a more extensive list of flies? Read our article from the library: best flies for catching brown trout.

Brown trout caught on a may fly
Brown trout caught on a may fly

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Articles about brown trout from the library

Euronymphing: what it is, how it works and the gear you need

Nymphing

Euronymphing: what it is, how it works and the gear you need

Take the casting out of fly fishing and what’s left sounds like it should be easy. So why is Euro nymphing one of the sport’s most challenging variations?

Best flies for catching brown trout: a list of 14 flies

Flies

Best flies for catching brown trout: a list of 14 flies

Fly fishing for brown trout puts anglers in contact with one of the most beautiful fish on the planet. Here's a list of 14 flies that work best.

Fly Fishing England’s renowned chalk streams

Locations

Fly Fishing England’s renowned chalk streams

Mention ‘fly fishing’ to most English people and even for those who have never held a fly rod in their lives, a certain image will immediately come to mind.

More content in the library

Locations where you can fly fish for Brown Trout

The River Wye

One of Wales' most iconic rivers.

Atlantic Salmon

Barbel

Brown Trout

Chub

Grayling

Perch

Pike

Sea Trout

Lake district

Sixteen lakes from large to small, but rivers as well.

Arctic Char

Atlantic Salmon

Brown Trout

Grayling

Perch

Pike

Roach

Sea Trout

The wild trout of Southern Norway

So much water and so much trout.

Arctic Char

Brown Trout

The salmon rivers of Southern Norway

Large or small rivers, all full of salmon and sea trout.

Atlantic Salmon

Brown Trout

Sea Trout

Valtellina (Italian Alps)

Hundreds of mountain streams and lakes in the Italian Alps.

Brown Trout

Grayling

Rainbow Trout

Chalkstreams in Hampshire

The ultimate fly fishing dream.

Brown Trout

Grayling

Oostvoornse Meer

No big trout in the Netherlands? Think again.

Brown Trout

European Flounder

Rainbow Trout

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Countries where you can fly fish for Brown Trout

🇩🇰 Denmark

🇫🇮 Finland

🇫🇷 France

🇩🇪 Germany

🇮🇸 Iceland

🇮🇹 Italy

🇳🇴 Norway

🇸🇪 Sweden

🇳🇱 The Netherlands

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

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Flies that you can use to fly fish for Brown Trout

Ant

Black Gnat

Bloodworm

Buzzer

Caddis Fly

Czech Nymph

Daddy Long Legs

Elk Hair Caddis

Foam Beetle

Grasshopper

Grey Wulf

Griffith's Gnat

Hare's Ear Nymph

Klinkhammer

Lefty's Deceiver

May Fly

Mickey Finn

Muddler Minnow

Pheasant Tail Nymph

Prince Nymph

Red Tag

Royal Coachman

Salmon Egg

Sedge

Shrimp Pattern

Shuttercock

Woolly Bugger

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Guides, workshops and more specialized in fly fishing for Brown Trout

Anglers Jaunt

United Kingdom 🇬🇧

Guiding

We Fly Fish

United Kingdom 🇬🇧

Guiding

Workshops

Fly Fishers Italy

Italy 🇮🇹

Guiding

Workshops

Fly Fishing Italia

Italy 🇮🇹

Guiding

Hemmingways Fishing

United Kingdom 🇬🇧

Guiding

Workshops

Fishinguide Scotland

United Kingdom 🇬🇧

Guiding

Workshops

Fly Fish Scotland

United Kingdom 🇬🇧

Guiding

Workshops

FishX

United Kingdom 🇬🇧

Guiding

You Fish Scotland

United Kingdom 🇬🇧

Guiding

Workshops

Devon Fishing Guides

United Kingdom 🇬🇧

Guiding

Fanatical Fly Fishing

United Kingdom 🇬🇧

Guiding

AnglerPilot

Norway 🇳🇴

Guiding

Workshops

Fly tying

Fishing Breaks

United Kingdom 🇬🇧

Guiding

Workshops

Fly tying

Country trips

Hookafly

United Kingdom 🇬🇧

Guiding

Workshops

Country trips

Other fish

Arctic Char

Asp

Atlantic Bluefin Tuna

Atlantic Cod

Atlantic Halibut

Atlantic Mackerel

Atlantic Salmon

Barbel

Bream

Chub

Common Carp

European Flounder

Garfish

Grayling

Haddock

Ide

Perch

Pike

Pike-perch

Pollack

Rainbow Trout

Roach

Rudd

Sea bass

Sea Trout

Tench

Twaid shad

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