River Pattern Guide

Best Flies for McCloud River

The McCloud River stands apart from nearly every other trout stream in the American West — not just for its beauty, but for what swims beneath its surface. The wild rainbow trout of the McCloud lower ...

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11 recommended patterns

Nymph

Perdigon

The fast-sinking competition nymph that changed Euro nymphing forever.

Sizes 14–22

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

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

Dry Fly

Olive Thorax Dun

Vince Marinaro's Thorax Dun design places the hackle at the center of the body rather than the head,

Sizes 16–20

Nymph

Twenty Incher

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

Sizes 4–8

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

Emerger

Quigley Cripple

Bob Quigley's Cripple is a hybrid emerger with a nymph body below the film and a hackle-tip wing abo

Sizes 14–20

Terrestrial

Parachute Hopper

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

Sizes 8–12

Terrestrial

Flying Ant

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

Sizes 14–18

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

Emerger

Film Critic

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

Sizes #16–#22