River Pattern Guide

Best Flies for Lamar River

There is no place quite like the Lamar Valley in summer. The expansive meadows, the wolf packs hunting bison herds, the massive thunderheads building over the Beartooth Plateau — and threading through...

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11 recommended patterns

Hare's Ear Nymph fly pattern
Nymph

Hare's Ear Nymph

Buggy, messy, and irresistible to every trout in the river.

Sizes 10–18

Thread Midge fly pattern
Midge

Thread Midge

Microscopic but mighty — the fly that matches the tiniest hatch.

Sizes 18–26

Pale Morning Dun fly pattern
Dry Fly

Pale Morning Dun

The PMD pattern imitates one of the West's most important hatches — Ephemerella infrequens and E. in

Sizes 14–18

Henry's Fork Hopper fly pattern
Dry Fly

Henry's Fork Hopper

Mike Lawson's Henry's Fork Hopper is the standard foam-body grasshopper pattern for slick water. Unl

Sizes 8–12

Twenty Incher fly pattern
Nymph

Twenty Incher

The Twenty Incher is a large, heavily weighted stonefly nymph with rubber legs and a chenille body.

Sizes 4–8

Muddler Minnow fly pattern
Streamer

Muddler Minnow

Don Gapen's Muddler Minnow is one of fly fishing's most versatile patterns. Its spun deer hair head

Sizes 4–10

Parachute Hopper fly pattern
Terrestrial

Parachute Hopper

A foam-bodied grasshopper with a parachute post that provides visibility in choppy water and doubles

Sizes 8–12

Flying Ant fly pattern
Terrestrial

Flying Ant

The Flying Ant pattern includes CDC or hackle-tip wings that distinguish it from standard ant patter

Sizes 14–18

Blue Dun fly pattern
Dry Fly

Blue Dun

One of the oldest and most storied dry fly patterns in the history of fly fishing, dating back centu

Sizes #14–#18

Film Critic fly pattern
Emerger

Film Critic

A low-profile emerger that sits right in the surface film, imitating a mayfly struggling to break fr

Sizes #16–#22

Black Spider fly pattern
Wet Fly

Black Spider

W.C. Stewart popularized this minimalist spider pattern in the 1850s, and it remains one of the most

Sizes #12–#18