There are plenty of reasons to love living in Maine. Near the top of the list is brook trout.
Maine has native populations in hundreds of waters, along with many more that are wild or supported by stocking. Brook trout have long held historic and cultural significance here and remain one of the most colorful and unique freshwater fish in the state.
They’re also relatively easy to catch, especially on dry flies — my favorite way to fish for them.
You don’t have to be a champion caster. In most cases, a decent presentation will do. Cast a dry fly to a rise on a remote pond or skate one across a riffle, glide or tea-colored pool, and there’s a good chance you’ll get a response. Even when there is little surface action.
You also don’t have to be an entomologist. I’ve never been overly concerned about matching the hatch on brook trout waters.
While there are times when brook trout can be frustrating, more often than not they are willing takers of anything buggy. That’s because brook trout are not piscivorous — they don’t feed on other fish as a major part of their diet, relying instead on insects, along with scuds, leeches and the like. In that respect, brook trout were made for fly fishing.
Every fly fisherman has a list of favorite or must-have flies. Ask a dozen anglers what they carry and you’re likely to get a dozen different answers. Most lists are based on patterns that have proven themselves over time, and once they’re established, they rarely change.
With that said, here is my short list of must-have dry flies for brook trout. I carry many others, but few rise to the level of these.
Adams
The Adams comes out of Michigan and dates back to the early 1920s. I’ve fished it on some of the Upper Peninsula’s classic trout waters where it was first conceived.
I’m not sure whether it’s meant to resemble a mayfly, a caddis or something else entirely, but it works equally well as a hatch matcher or a searching pattern on Maine waters.
I generally carry Adams flies in sizes 10 to 20, but most often fish sizes 14 and 16. In riffles or other situations where visibility is an issue, the Parachute Adams is a great alternative.
Mosquito
During the spring and summer, mosquitoes are among the most common insects on the landscape — and they’re an important food source for brook trout, especially in beaver ponds, remote ponds and other still waters.
As bothersome as they are, they end up on the water and trout take advantage of that. The Mosquito can also serve as a decent mayfly imitation during a hatch.
Fish it in sizes 12 to 18. It often works when other patterns don’t, particularly during morning and evening outings when insect activity is high.
Elk Hair Caddis
Caddis flies are present through much of the trout season and can be especially prolific later in the year, when many mayfly hatches have tapered off.
I’ve had good luck fishing this fly on quiet ponds with a series of twitching retrieves when trout are rising. The hollow elk hair wing also gives it excellent buoyancy and visibility in choppy or turbulent water.
It can be fished dead drift along the edge of a riffle or run, or skittered across current. I usually carry it in olive, orange, yellow and brown, in sizes 10 to 14, or 16.
Humpy
The Humpy isn’t meant to imitate any specific trout food. It simply looks buggy.
Developed in the West as a rugged fly that would float well in fast, turbulent water, it works just as well on Maine rivers and streams as an attractor pattern when there is little insect activity.
Although not typically associated with quiet ponds, it can still draw a response when other flies fail. I once caught and released more than a dozen brook trout on a favorite pond using an orange-bodied variation before it became too tattered to fish.
I carry Humpies in red, yellow, green and orange, in sizes 8 to 14.
