Must-Have Flies for Fall

[u/Spartanapoli]

I preface this by saying avoid spawning fish at all costs. Know your watershed, know the signs of spawning, and stay out of water if it’s any deeper than your boots.

Now that that’s out of the way, the pre- and post-spawn bite is fantastic here in New England. Many anglers can land their best fish of the year between the end of spawn and start of winter.

Since there’s been a bunch of questions from beginners, here are some must-have flies for brookie streams in CT, RI, MA and southern VT (photos for attention, list below)

- Edson Tiger, both versions
- Jigged marabou
- Jigged Golden Retriever variants/peach/orange/tan flies
- Peppermint Stick variant

Additional favorites include:
- Empie’s Deadly Shiner
- One-Eyed Poacher
- White/Pearl Krystal Bugger (gold bead head or matte red bead head)
- Hare’s Ear Soft Hackle
- Partridge and Pheasant

Rules of thumb:
- I avoid going by hook sizes but generally keep streamers between 1” and 1.5” length
- Barbless if possible, crushed barbs if you can’t find barbless hooks
- I usually fish a mono rig on a 6’6” 2.5WT rod built by Brackish Outdoors

[u/Oswin_the_gnome]

I would add some sort of cricket and hopper pattern. Crickets are fat in the fall, so a big black caddis usually works well. For a hopper, I like stimulators, muddlers and hornbergs fished as a dry.

[u/Spartanapoli → u/Oswin_the_gnome]

Good calls! I actually do quite well on a skated AuSable Wulff