Hatch calendars and fly boxes for 25 rivers

• Bow River

  Southern Alberta, Canada

  A 60-fish-per-hectare urban tailwater with a 12-month season and no crowds after work.

  
  brown · rainbow · whitefish
  Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct

• White River, Arkansas

  Ozark foothills below Bull Shoals Dam, Arkansas, United States

  A tailwater you fish from a boat, where the generation schedule is the tide table.

  
  brown · rainbow · cutthroat
  Apr · May · Jun · Sep · Oct · Nov

• Davidson River

  Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina, United States

  The most accessible trout water in the southern Appalachians, and surprisingly technical.

  
  brown · rainbow
  Apr · May · Sep · Oct

• Penns Creek

  Centre and Snyder Counties, Pennsylvania, United States

  Where the Green Drake hatch is a public event and the whole valley closes for a week.

  
  brown · brook · rainbow
  Apr · May · Jun · Oct

• Letort Spring Run

  Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States

  The hardest small stream in America, and the one that invented the terrestrial fly.

  
  brown
  Apr · May · Jun · Oct

• Farmington River

  Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States

  New England's most reliable tailwater, with a catch-and-release TMA that fishes in January.

  
  brown · brook · rainbow
  May · Jun · Jul · Sep · Oct

• Pere Marquette River

  West-central Michigan, United States

  A national-forest river where fall steelhead run on autumn rain, not on a dam schedule.

  
  brown · steelhead · rainbow
  Apr · May · Sep · Oct · Nov

• North Umpqua River

  Cascade foothills, Oregon, United States

  The home of the greased-line swing, and one of the last rivers with a fly-only steelhead reach.

  
  steelhead · rainbow · cutthroat
  Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct

• Deschutes River

  Central Oregon, United States

  A desert canyon river with the biggest salmonfly hatch in the Pacific Northwest.

  
  rainbow · steelhead
  May · Jun · Sep · Oct · Nov

• San Juan River

  Navajo Dam to Farmington, New Mexico, United States

  Sixteen kilometres of midge-and-mayfly water where a 50-fish day is unremarkable.

  
  rainbow · brown
  Mar · Apr · May · Sep · Oct · Nov

• Fryingpan River

  Basalt, Colorado, United States

  Twenty-three kilometres of cold, clear water that made mysis shrimp famous in fly fishing.

  
  rainbow · brown
  Jan · Feb · Mar · Sep · Oct · Nov

• Yellowstone River

  Montana and Wyoming, United States

  The longest free-flowing river in the lower 48, and the best native cutthroat fishery in it.

  
  cutthroat · rainbow · whitefish
  Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct

• Bighorn River

  South-central Montana, United States

  A cold, stable tailwater with 3,000+ fish per kilometre and midge hatches in January.

  
  brown · rainbow · whitefish
  Mar · Apr · Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec

• Traun River

  Upper Austria / Salzkammergut, Austria

  Chalk-stream clarity with alpine gradient, and some of Europe's largest grayling.

  
  brown · grayling · rainbow
  May · Jun · Sep · Oct · Nov

• Beaverkill River

  Catskill Mountains, New York, United States

  The river that invented American dry-fly fishing, and still the best classroom for it.

  
  brown · brook
  May · Jun · Sep · Oct

• Río Grande

  Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

  The world's best sea-run brown trout river, at the end of the world.

  
  sea run brown · resident brown · rainbow
  Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr

• Green River below Flaming Gorge

  Dutch John, Utah, United States

  A big, cold tailwater that grows enormous rainbows and hosts a genuine cicada hatch.

  
  rainbow · brown · cutthroat
  May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep

• River Wharfe

  Yorkshire Dales, England, United Kingdom

  A dales river where the grayling season covers the winter and the trout season does not.

  
  grayling · brown
  Jan · Feb · Jun · Oct · Nov · Dec

• Henry's Fork of the Snake

  Eastern Idaho, United States

  The most technical dry-fly water in the lower 48, with weed beds that punish a dragged fly.

  
  rainbow · brown · brook
  May · Jun · Jul · Sep · Oct

• Soča River

  Julian Alps, Slovenia

  The only river in the world with a native marble trout, in water that looks photoshopped.

  
  marble trout · grayling · rainbow · brown
  May · Jun · Jul · Sep

• Au Sable River

  Northern Lower Michigan, United States

  The spiritual home of American dry-fly fishing, with a night hatch worth losing sleep for.

  
  brook · brown · rainbow
  May · Jun · Jul · Sep

• Tongariro River

  Taupō, North Island, New Zealand

  The most reliable winter trout fishery in the southern hemisphere, in a volcanic valley.

  
  rainbow · brown
  Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct

• South Platte — Deckers and Cheesman

  Front Range foothills, Colorado, United States

  Two rivers in one: a pocket-water canyon above and a walk-and-wade flat below.

  
  rainbow · brown
  Jan · Feb · Mar · Oct · Nov · Dec

• River Test

  Hampshire, England, United Kingdom

  The birthplace of dry-fly fishing, and still the hardest place to fool a brown trout.

  
  brown · grayling · rainbow
  Apr · May · Jun · Sep

• Madison River

  Southwest Montana, United States

  A 183 km riffle-and-run river where dam releases, not rain, decide your fly.

  
  brown · rainbow · whitefish
  Apr · May · Jun · Sep · Oct

Full river index →

• Brown trout

  Salmo trutta · Salmonidae

  Stream residents run 20–40 cm; lake- and sea-fed fish reach 60–90 cm.

  21 rivers

• Rainbow trout

  Oncorhynchus mykiss · Salmonidae

  12–45 cm in rivers; lake-run fish commonly 50–70 cm.

  22 rivers

• Mountain whitefish

  Prosopium williamsoni · Salmonidae

  25–45 cm, rarely over 50 cm.

  4 rivers

• Brook trout

  Salvelinus fontinalis · Salmonidae

  15–30 cm in small streams; 40 cm and over in productive northern water.

  5 rivers

• Cutthroat trout

  Oncorhynchus clarkii · Salmonidae

  15–45 cm, with lake-dwelling forms reaching 60 cm.

  4 rivers

• Steelhead

  Oncorhynchus mykiss (anadromous) · Salmonidae

  55–90 cm; a 10 kg fish is a good one anywhere.

  3 rivers

• European grayling

  Thymallus thymallus · Salmonidae

  25–45 cm on good rivers; anything over 50 cm is exceptional.

  4 rivers

• Marble trout

  Salmo marmoratus · Salmonidae

  40–70 cm; historically over 1 m, now extremely rare at that size.

  1 rivers

• Sea-run brown trout

  Salmo trutta (anadromous, South Atlantic stock) · Salmonidae

  Río Grande fish average 3–5 kg; 10 kg fish are caught every season.

  1 rivers

• Resident brown trout

  Salmo trutta (non-migratory) · Salmonidae

  15–35 cm in most rivers, with exceptional fish to 60 cm in fertile spring creeks.

  1 rivers

• Reading water

  Finding the 20 per cent of the river that holds 80 per cent of the fish, before you make a cast.

  Every session, before you rig up.

• Matching a hatch

  Working out what the fish are eating, then deciding whether to match it or to break the rules.

  Whenever fish are visibly rising.

• Nymphing

  Getting a fly to the bottom and knowing when a fish has taken it.

  Any time nothing is rising, which is most of the time.

• Dry-fly presentation

  Making a fly float over a fish without the fish ever seeing the leader.

  Whenever fish are looking up and the water is clear.

• Streamer fishing

  Chasing the biggest, least selective fish in the river with a moving fly.

  High or coloured water, dawn, dusk, and all winter.

• Swinging a fly

  Covering a wide river with a controlled arc, the way salmon and steelhead are fished.

  Cold water, big rivers, and any anadromous fish.

• Catch and release, done properly

  The difference between a fish that swims away and a fish that dies three hours later.

  On every fish you are not keeping.

• Tying flies you will actually fish

  A short list of patterns that covers most of a season, and what to get right on each.

  Winter evenings, before the season opens.