River Pattern Guide

Best Flies for Little Cottonwood Creek

Little Cottonwood Creek carves through one of Utah's most iconic canyon corridors — the same drainage that leads to Snowbird and Alta ski resorts. The creek is smaller and more intimate than its neigh...

View full river guide →

11 recommended patterns

Nymph

San Juan Worm

Love it or hate it, it catches fish — lots of fish.

Sizes 10–16

Nymph

Green Rock Worm

The Green Rock Worm imitates free-living Rhyacophila caddis larvae — the bright green caterpillar-li

Sizes 12–16

Streamer

Slumpbuster

John Barr's Slumpbuster is a cone-headed pine squirrel strip streamer designed to imitate sculpin an

Sizes 4–8

Streamer

Zonker

The Zonker uses a rabbit strip tied over a Mylar tube body to create a baitfish imitation with incre

Sizes 4–10

Streamer

Clouser Minnow (Trout)

Bob Clouser's iconic dumbbell-eyed minnow pattern, scaled down for trout water. The weighted eyes ma

Sizes 6–10

Streamer

Double Bunny

The Double Bunny uses two rabbit strips — one on top, one on the bottom of the hook — to create a wi

Sizes 2–8

Wet Fly

Picket Pin

The Picket Pin is a traditional stillwater wet fly that imitates damselfly nymphs and emergers. Its

Sizes 10–14

Terrestrial

Inchworm

A simple bright-green chenille or foam pattern that imitates the caterpillars and inchworms that dro

Sizes 10–14

Nymph

Squirmy Wormy

A controversial but devastatingly effective pattern using a squiggly silicone body to imitate aquati

Sizes #10–#14

Streamer

Barely Legal

Kelly Galloup designed this articulated streamer to push water and create maximum vibration on the s

Sizes #2–#6

Streamer

Home Invader

A long, articulated streamer built on a Fish Skull head that creates an exaggerated swimming action

Sizes #1/0–#4