How do you start?

[Rocketfish]

You reach the stream/ river and there's no hatches nor signs of fish feeding. Nice pool, riffles, pocket-waters.
Trout river: browns, rainbows, brookies, cutts.
How do you start?... Streamer? Dry? Nymph? Dropper? Wet? Soft?...etc.
In my case, the first choice is a dry (caddis or foam terrestrial)...second choice a soft-hackle, third choice a nymph.

Good luck

[Normand]

about 90% of a trouts diet is subsurface, so i'll start with a nymph

[Uncle Jesse]

Thank you for starting this discussion, hopefully the wiser, more experience trout fishermen will share their vast knowledge with those of us less knowledgeable. I mostly trout fish on the Chattahoochee River and experience has taught me to start with a nymph, usally a bead head or tied on a 1/124 oz. jig and soft hackle combo. Going with the common wisdom that 75%+ of what a fish eats is in the water not on the surface. I also carry a second rod with a dry, usually an Adams or BWO and a black ant or emerger pattern trailiing, because it's more fun than fishing below the surface. The Hooch has a nice population of rainbows, browns (stocked and river born) and an occasional stocked brook trout, so I'm told.

[Joel D. Popham]

I'd double up. A dry towing a nymph. My choice of flies would depend on where I was fishing and the time of the year. Best Regards....

[Thunderthumbs]

For me it depends on the river. If it's a small stream, I usually start with some sort of dry fly, caddis, klinkhammer, adams, hopper, something like that. I've found that in the smaller streams that the fish aren't usually as picky as the fish in the larger streams. Having said that, it doesn't mean that there aren't small streams where the fish are not picky...or selective.

When visiting a river or stream I've never fished, I usually just sit and observe for a while, see if I can see the fish rising occasionally, or if I see a flash of one feeding on nymphs. It's a nice way to wind down and take in where you are too. You can also wade into the stream or river and turn over a few rocks to see what insect nymphs might be in the river you are going to fish, and then match the nymph.

If I truly have no idea where to start, then I'll tie a dropper fly (nymph) to a dry fly and then fish that way until I start getting fish on one or the other.

Another effective method that has worked for me on lots of rivers and streams is to fish a fly dry on the downstream drift, and then strip it in in wet fly fashion back upstream. Surprisingly, that method has worked for me more often than not. I discovered it fishing the Au Sable River in Michigan with a renegade. I wasn't paying attention to my fishing very well, I was daydreaming about where I was. At the end of my drift I let the fly swing around into the main current and then slowly started stripping it in to make another ca...WHAM! A nice brookie hammered it on the retrieve. I tried it a few more times and had the same result on several casts.

If I don't have much luck within an hour or so of fishing then I'll switch to a streamer of some kind. I usually cast it at about a 45 degree angle to where I'm standing toward the bank and let it swing down below me and then strip it in. I'll alternate from sided to side with each cast. That's a pretty effective method too.

I would do a google on the river or stream you are wanting to fish to see what insects are going to be hatching that time of the year too. If anything, it just helps you to narrow down your fly selection. There are some really great books out there that have a hatch chart with flies to use and instructions on tying them. I got one when I was in Michigan, it was such a great tool to have because I could look up a river and then tie up a few of whatever was supposed to be hatching and go fishing.

I hope this helps.

Tight lines,
TT

[dudley]

Depends
On a larger stream or river , I'd probably swing a pair of wets or a streamer and head down stream

On a smaller stream I'd fish a dry. I like fishing "on top" and I'm there for my own enjoyment.
Simple as that

[Cold]

Though there are considerations that would convince me to try other things, a wet or streamer, in attractor colors, would be my choice.

One of the major considerations is 'when'. What time of year is it, also, what time of day. If I'm hitting a local stream late May, early June, after 4pm or so, even without a single bug in the air or rise, i'm going to a large 12 or 14 para-adams, because any time now, the isos are due up, which will cause a feeding frenzy until it's too dark to see your fly on the water. This time of year, on the same water, it's well worth trying a caddis pupa or emerger in the film, to address the sporadic hatches that occur from the end of summer cooldown until the first frost. This fish, by now, have learned not to miss these opportunities, and will readily take a caddis emerger any time of day. After we've gotten a few good frosts, I can pretty much leave my dries at home. Some midges will be coming off, but if you want to fish that hatch, you're better served fishing a larva or pupa.

Another major consideration would be the habits of what "should" be hatching. During the sulphur season, but before the evening hatch, I'll try a flashback PT, especially if the duns aren't popping off yet and the trout arent rising to the other bugs. Usually means they're already keying on the sulphurs, but those sulphurs are still subsurface.

That said, without any prior knowledge of the location, hatches, or seasons, a small bucktail streamer that incorporates and combination of white, olive, brown, black, and red would be my choice. I'd start smaller, maybe a #10 or so, and once I got into a fish or two, jump up to a 6 or even a 4 to try to tempt larger fish.

I dont like spending my fishing time sitting on the banks. I prefer to be observant while I've gota fly in the water. If a hatch starts to occur, its a simple matter to change things up to address it.

[Mike Thomas]

I start most days with a small beadhead nymph suspended under a dry fly, if early in the morning an Elk hair caddis with a bead head shaggy hair and copper about 3 to 4 foot below it. If it is the hight of summer then maybe a big cicada dry and a very small ptn.
All the best.
Mike

[Gigmaster]

2 words: Woolly Bugger....in either black or OD green.

2nd choice: Clouser...in green and white

[Silverexpress]

....with a beer.