Fishing season has finally arrived in Maine, and with it comes one of the most common questions anglers ask:
“What flies should I be using right now?”
Spend any time online and you’ll see endless lists claiming to have the answers: Top 5 Flies for Maine, Must-Have Early Season Patterns, Don’t Hit the Water Without These Flies.
It sounds helpful. It sounds simple.
And it’s almost always wrong.
There is no “top five” fly that does it all.
Anglers — especially newer ones — want a clear answer. They want a short list they can buy and feel confident using.
But fly selection doesn’t work like that.
More often than not, those lists are designed to sell flies or generate clicks. That doesn’t mean the flies on them are bad — most are proven patterns. But presenting them as a universal solution ignores the most important part of fishing: the conditions in front of you.
That’s what determines what you should tie on.
What species are you targeting? Brook trout, salmon or bass? Are you fishing a river, lake or remote pond? What are the fish feeding on?
All of it matters.
You wouldn’t throw a caddis dry fly during a heavy smelt run and expect consistent results. You wouldn’t normally tie on a bass popper in cold early-season water while targeting trout. Sure, fish can be unpredictable, but relying on exceptions isn’t a strategy.
As a guide, I take that approach seriously. When I head out, I carry hundreds of flies. I have a core group of patterns I trust — flies that have proven themselves time and again — but I also carry plenty that might not leave the box for years.
They’re there for one reason: when the situation calls for them.
A perfect example is Ray Stout’s floating smelt. It was designed years ago for fishing the West Branch and became a staple for anglers across Maine. There are plenty of variations now, but the original built its reputation for a reason.
Years ago, while I was out on my delivery route, I stopped at a house and the homeowner asked if I had a minute. We walked down to the river behind his place and he told me to grab his rod and give the floating smelt a try.
A few casts later, I swung the fly across the current and a salmon crushed it.
I landed the fish, snapped a quick photo and thanked him before heading back to work. Before I left, I told him I’d be back in a couple of days with my son. He told me not to bother bringing my own boat — we could use his.
So we did.
A couple of days later, the three of us were back on the river together. Fish were rising all around us. At first glance, it looked like a hatch was coming off, but it wasn’t. The fish were feeding on smelt chopped up passing through a dam.
It was a very specific situation.
My son hooked a few fish, and I had brought along a small Scott 3-weight rigged with that same floating smelt. Within a few casts, I was into a fish, but this wasn’t a small one. It turned out to be a landlocked salmon over 20 inches.
Honestly, it was more fish than that rod was meant to handle. But being in the boat, we were able to chase it down and land it.
At that moment, that fly felt like the only one that mattered.
But it wasn’t magic. The conditions had lined up perfectly.
That’s how it goes.
About 25 years ago, I designed a streamer called the McKay Special after fishing patterns like the Wardens Worry and the Moosehead Belle and deciding to combine elements of both into something new.
Is it one of my top flies?
No. But I always carry it.
Because I’ve seen what it can do under the right conditions.
I remember one of our annual Memorial Day trips — my dad, my cousin, my uncle and a few friends. We picked a different location every year, and one year we ended up in the Moosehead Lake region after a previous trip got cut short by a snowstorm.
That day, my dad and cousin went trolling on the lake while I fished a nearby river with the McKay Special.
It turned into one of those days you don’t forget.
Fish after fish. Trout and salmon. More than 20 landed before I finally headed back to camp to tell the story.
When I got back, all four trolling lines had tangled during a turn and their day was over.
I convinced them to come back out with me and give fly fishing a try.
I set them up midstream, had them cast down and across and let the flies swing through the current. Almost every cast, they were hooking fish.
That fly earned a permanent spot in my box after that.
But again, it’s not a “top five” fly. It’s a situational fly.
That’s the part many anglers miss.
Anglers today have more resources than ever. Fisheries surveys, dam flow data and archived fishing reports can all help you understand conditions before you ever hit the water.
That matters far more than any generic “top five” list.
