River Pattern Guide

Best Flies for Swift River

The Swift River below the Quabbin Reservoir in central Massachusetts is the most technically demanding trout fishery in New England and one of the top tailwater challenges in the eastern United States...

View full river guide →

11 recommended patterns

Woolly Bugger fly pattern
Streamer

Woolly Bugger

If you could only fish one fly for the rest of your life.

Sizes 2–10

San Juan Worm fly pattern
Nymph

San Juan Worm

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

Sizes 10–16

Sculpzilla fly pattern
Streamer

Sculpzilla

The sculpin slayer that big browns can't resist.

Sizes 4–10

Prince Nymph fly pattern
Nymph

Prince Nymph

Doug Prince's attractor nymph combines peacock herl, brown hackle, goose biot wings and tail in a pa

Sizes 10–18

Olive Woolly Bugger fly pattern
Streamer

Olive Woolly Bugger

The olive variant of the Woolly Bugger is specifically effective as a leech and damselfly nymph imit

Sizes 6–12

Kreelex fly pattern
Streamer

Kreelex

The Kreelex is a simple but flashy baitfish pattern made primarily of metallic lateral scale materia

Sizes 6–10

Autumn Splendor fly pattern
Streamer

Autumn Splendor

Mike Schmidt's Autumn Splendor is a balanced leech/baitfish pattern designed to be fished on a jig h

Sizes 8–12

Picket Pin fly pattern
Wet Fly

Picket Pin

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

Sizes 10–14

Woolly Worm fly pattern
Wet Fly

Woolly Worm

The ancestor of the Woolly Bugger, the Woolly Worm is a palmered chenille-and-hackle pattern that ha

Sizes 8–14

Squirmy Wormy fly pattern
Nymph

Squirmy Wormy

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

Sizes #10–#14

Blowtorch fly pattern
Nymph

Blowtorch

A flashy attractor nymph that combines a bright hot spot with a dark body to create maximum contrast

Sizes #12–#16