Two Flies for Fall Browns

Is it the fly or the depth that makes or breaks you?

By Brian Kozminski

It’s fall and the river is reported to be high and blown out. Is there any reason to go out?

Actually, a report like that gives me incentive. It’s a chance to hit the river in solitude and throw beefy streamers to hungry, pre-spawn brown trout that are about to get the feed-bag on. But which streamers give me the best chances to hit the 20-Plus Club?

I recently asked a few friends and fellow guides and their answers varied. Some of the suggestions included the Boogie Man, the Hog Snare, the Circus Peanut, Schultz’s Swinging D 2.0, Chocklett’s Game Changer, Schmidt’s Meal Ticket, Galloup’s Sex Dungeon, and the Great Lakes Deceiver.

So, do you have to carry multiple fly boxes, filled with dozens of options in multiple colors, to score? Kelly Galloup and Bob Linsenman, two great anglers, swear by running through your list of colors in succession. If one doesn’t produce in 10 minutes, they might be on to the next. That means carrying lots of flies.

I’ve often wondered, could I fish just two streamers and get away with it? And if so, which two would they be?

On multiple occasions I’ve seen fish swim across the river to annihilate a Sparkle Minnow (aka the Silver Fox), which isn’t any color in particular. And, many times I’ve noticed that just about any fly will work if properly placed and retrieved in a particular way, meaning the way the fish want it that day, and at the proper depth. Which brings up one of the oldest rules in the book: The wrong fly at the right depth will catch more fish than the right fly at the wrong depth.

Articulation and movement have proven to be the key factors in getting the biggest fish to come out of their lairs. Flies with neutral buoyancy and the ability to kick and swim trigger the predatory instinct in trout. When the predatory instinct hits, they’ll swim far and destroy a pattern, even if they aren’t hungry.

So, if I were to head to the river, whether on my local Michigan waters or out West, with just two patterns in my meat locker—wanting to stick the largest brown trout of my life—I guess I’d choose the ones that have always saved the day: Coffey’s Sparkle Minnow in olive, black or white, and Ray Schmidt’s Rattlesnake in olive, tan, yellow and black.

The key to fishing these is how well you present and run those flies. Do you change up the strip? Are you working only the deep, sexy holes, or are you covering the top and bottom of the runs, and the soft inside edges, too? A guy who has his fly in the water, fishing all the likely spots, always outfishes the guy who takes a break or doesn’t throw everywhere a fish could be.

In my mind streamer selection comes down to fishing flies you’re confident in, fishing them well at various depths and with different retrieves . . . and keeping your fly in the water.

It’s almost fall. I see storm clouds on the horizon. The rivers are about to rise. This tells me it’s time to hit ht river for fall browns. You know what I’ll be throwing.