Late summer trout fishing

It’s been an odd trout season. Spring was wet, cool and rivers and streams remained unusually high, offering the chance to troll a couple of weeks longer than normal. Summer has been warm and dry with only intermittent rain, and waterways shriveled and warmed causing brook trout to seek deep pools, spring holes and cold creek inlets. Dry fly fishing was often challenging, requiring very small patterns in the 18- to 22-size range and extremely light leaders. When anglers finally enticed a fish to strike, frequently the hook pulled out or the leader broke.
Now as summer winds down and fall tinges the air, the trout are a bit more receptive thanks to cool nights. Some brookies are beginning to filter back to regular holding runs with spawning season just a few weeks away, but there are still some good size schools holed up in warm-weather pools. From mid-August through the end of September, my selection of floating flies changes drastically from small traditional patterns to larger, life-like bugs. In my fishing play book, late summer is terrestrial time.
Dry flies which imitate land-based bugs are called terrestrials, and certain of these patterns will entice trout to take when few other dry flies work consistently. Fish which inhabit brooks that flow through agricultural land and mixed woodlands are very alert and hungry for a wide variety of real bugs that fall into the waterways. Properly presenting a well-tied insect imitation pretty much guarantees top-water action.
Grasshopper patterns are the best known and most utilized terrestrials. Their large size, realistic look, and lifelike flotation along with their simplicity make them a perfect choice for novice fly casters. Foam-bodied hoppers float higher and longer, but wool bodies have a scraggly, more realistic appearance. Yellow, green and orange-bodied grasshoppers are the most popular, and lacquered, swept back, turkey feather wings and a brown collar hackle produce a very natural fly pattern. Experienced late-summer anglers always have several sizes and colors of grasshopper patterns in their fly box.
One trick to bugging trout into devouring ’hopper imitations is to cast the fly lightly into grass or brush along the stream edge, then gently pull it free to plop onto the water’s surface. Rather than let it free float, retrieve the fly with a bit of twitchy rod tip action to make it seem like the insect is actually struggling. It drives the fish crazy. On two occasions when my line has caught on an overhanging branch and dangled inches above the brook, a trout has actually jumped clear of the water to grab the fly before I could shake it loose. Now that’s when you know you’ve got the right fly on.
Unfortunately it’s the other terrestrial fly pattern that are often ignored, and seldom even carried in many anglers’ fly assortments. On several occasions I’ve been able to catch half a dozen trout on grasshoppers from a large school of fish, but then they get lockjaw. Once in awhile, resting the pool and changing to a different size and color of hopper will yield a few more strikes, but changing to another species of bug almost always works.
Crickets are a very reliable fly pattern. Black is the predominant color for these buggy imitations and the use of hackle stems for legs and antennae give true realism. Beetles are another overlooked fly pattern that can be very efficient on trout during warm weather. Smaller in size than ’hoppers and crickets, beetles are also often dark colored, except for ladybugs and jassids which are very bright red and yellow. Crickets and beetles can be difficult for the novice fly tier to construct so it’s often wise to buy these imitations.
Albeit small and challenging to fish, flies that imitate ants are excellent offerings in farm country, as are spiders, bees, deer flies and fireflies. Most anglers have none of these terrestrials in their fly box. Moth and miller patterns can be very productive for evening fishing. These light-colored flies float high and show up well on the surface, which is always an asset in spotting strikes and setting the hook in dusky conditions. Larger, white or cream colored wings on terrestrials are excellent for night fishing brown trout since they show up well to fish and fishermen after dark.
One final category of terrestrial that works well during the day, no matter how bright or hot, is fuzzy bugs. Inchworms and caterpillars are simple to tie, colorful and extremely realistic in the water. Next to grasshoppers, caterpillars seem to produce the largest trout on a regular basis.
Bank undercuts, beneath brush overhand, eddies and backwater, and slow runs beside farm fields are all perfect spots to bug trout with insect imitations. Because real bugs frequently fall into streams and thrash around, presentations of terrestrials don’t require the finesse of small dry flies. Remember to swim the fly across the surface and cause a bit of commotion as a real, live bug would. Don’t use dry fly lubricant since terrestrial artificials work best when partially submerged. A bug in trouble is an easy lunch for a brook trout, and it’s a natural everyday occurrence.
Catching trout on various styles of terrestrial flies is challenging and a lot of fun when you get to see how many versions of bugs will work during one outing. If fishing has been a bit slow for you lately, maybe it’s your choice of flies. Don’t give up, most waterways are in perfect conditions right now and fishing days are dwindling fast. Tie on a terrestrial and bug the trout into biting.