Trout in rivers generally eat caddis (larva, pupa and adult), mayflies (nymph and adult), stoneflies (nymph, adult), mosquitos, terrestrials (grasshoppers, ants), salmon eggs and sculpin. Trout in lakes usually are eating chironomid, leeches, shrimp, dragonfly nymphs, damselflies (nymphs and emergers), mayflies (adults, nymphs), caddis (larva, pupa, adults), boatmen, snails and, depending on the strain of trout, sometimes smaller fish. Learn to recognize those forms of food, the lifecyles of those food items and what time of year they're present and in what type of water (acidic low nutrient coastal, alkaline interior lakes) and have a couple flies to match what type of bugs will be present in the local size and shade, then watch for those aforementioned food items on the surface and look under rocks on the shore and you'll have a good idea what's present in the body of water to tie on. Once you get a fish and its big enough, pump its throat and see what it was eating. Its that simple.
For instance, a quick glance under a rock in a riffle on the Skagit will reveal an abundance of cased caddis larva. Pull apart the stone cases and you'll find the worm-like larva with a black head and a peach-coloured abdomen.
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Topic: "match the hatch" (Read 16971 times)