As the season begins to change from Summer and into Fall so should the flies in your fly box. Although we are at that time of the year where the ambient temperature begins to drop, that by no means should be a reason to put away your large hoppers, streamers, or nymphs (Honestly...never put those away). Since it is that time of the year where the flies in your fly box are a little all over the place, I thought that it would be a good idea to explain how you should be filling your fly box for fall. Hopefully, you have a few of these already in your fly box but, for all intents and purposes, I am going to imagine that you are starting from scratch and your fly box is barren and you are building this box from the ground up. Without any further explanation, let's get into how to build your fly box for fall.

For most, the thought of keeping big hoppers and attractor patterns in their fly box during the cooler months of the year may seem like a faux pas. And, while this makes some sense, I'm here to tell you that through the early fall months you can have days where the only fly you will need is a big foamy hopper pattern. Why? Well even though the fall months rivers can still experience long durations of time where the sun warms the water just enough for hatches to occur. For that reason, it is best to be prepared with a handful of staple hoppers in your fly box. As always it is best practice to keep these bad boys in a variety of sizes and colors which we will list below.

Fall is the time of year where big browns gorge themselves before the truly cold weather starts. That means this is the best time to throw some juicy streamers close to the banks and strip them across the water. These typically lead to the most thrilling takes of the season and are a great-searching pattern to figure out where some of the biggest fish are holding.

As the months get colder the use of subsurface nymphs starts to become more and more prevalent with anglers along the Front Range. Look it is no secret that flies eat a majority of their diet subsurface and, there is no better time than fall and winter to solidify this. This is why we decided to toss in some of our favorites for this time of the year.

As you can see, building out your fly box for the fall months can be a pretty enjoyable experience, and honestly, there is a lot to choose from. It is a lot like springtime fishing in a lot of ways, where fish are hungry for a large variety of things and it is up to you for making sure you are prepared for your day on the water. If you would like to see more of these in the future, or if you have any comments regarding this post please shoot me an email at brandon@troutsflyfishing.com. As always if you have any questions regarding what we talked about today or questions on your favorite rivers feel free to come into the shop at either our Denver or Frisco location. If you cannot make it into the shop feel free to give us a ring at 303-733-1434