How to Pick the Right Lure for Fly Fishing (And Stop Getting Skunked)

Choosing the perfect fly is both the challenge and the reward of fly fishing. You can have the best gear and know every casting technique, but if you don’t know how to pick the right lure for fly fishing, you can go home empty-handed.

The good news? You don’t need perfect casts to catch big fish. This guide will show you how to read water conditions, including trout’s behavior, so you can match the hatch and start catching fish more than you usually do.

Let’s go into detail.

You can make perfect casts all day, but if you’re using the wrong fly, you’ll still catch nothing. Why is that so? Fish eat what’s actually in the water, and they judge food quickly based on size, color, and movement.

Here’s why the right fly matters more than a perfect cast:

• Fish feed by instinct, not admiration. They don’t care how smooth your cast looks; they care if the food looks real.
• Matching size and color triggers natural feeding behavior. Even minor mismatches make fish suspicious.
• Wrong fly = ignored presentation. If your fly behaves like the insects they’re eating, fish commit faster.

When your fly matches what fish expect, everything else becomes easier. Add a decent presentation on top of that, and your catch rate jumps immediately.

Think of the different types of flies as your trout-fishing toolbox. Each fly type does a specific job, and knowing which tool to grab makes everything easier. Here’s a summary for you:

Fly Type	What It Imitates	When to Use
Dry Flies	Adult insects on the surface	When fish are rising or sipping
Nymphs	Immature insects underwater	No surface activity, cold water
Wet Flies	Drowned or emerging insects	Mid-depth, between hatches
Streamers	Baitfish, leeches, crayfish	Targeting big fish, murky water
Terrestrials	Land insects (hoppers, ants)	Summer months, windy days

Now that you know what each fly imitates and when to use it, you can start reading the water with purpose instead of guessing. This table is your decision filter, so match the conditions, pick the right fly type, and your chances of hooking trout quickly go up.

This guide below will show you how.

Picking the right lure for trout isn't random guesswork. You're reading clues the water and fish give you, then making an informed decision. Once you practice this a few times, it becomes second nature.

Here are the strategies that help you pick the right lure:

"Match the hatch" means choosing a fly that looks like what fish are eating right now. I know it sounds technical, but it's really just about paying attention to the clues around you.

Here’s the step-by-step process:

Start by watching the water. If you see insects floating or flying around, that tells you what the fish might be feeding on. Look for rising fish. You’ll usually notice rings, splashes, or even noses poking through the surface as they grab food.

When you see those, you’re already halfway to choosing the right fly.

Don’t forget to check the plants along the bank. Insects often rest there before hatching. If nothing is happening on the surface, you can flip over rocks in shallow water to see what nymphs are clinging underneath.

Getting the size right is the most important thing you can do. This is the priority order for matching: size matters most, shape comes second, and color matters least.

Fly sizes use a numbering system in which higher numbers indicate smaller flies. Standard trout sizes run from 12 to 18, with 12 being larger and 18 being relatively small.

Here's how it gets tricky: a size 16 fly is NOT twice as big as a size 8. The numbering represents hook gap width in a legacy system that doesn't make much sense. What matters is knowing that a higher number equals a smaller fly.

Shape or profile comes next.

You want to match whether the natural insect has upright wings versus tent-shaped wings, or a slim body versus a chunky one. Color is the least important factor. General shade is usually enough, but it would be better to have brown, olive, gray, or tan.

Your presentation needs to mimic the insect's behavior. If fish are feeding on the surface, use a dry fly. If they're feeding just below the surface, use an emerger. When you don't see surface activity, use a weighted nymph near the bottom.

Note: Don't be stubborn if you're not getting strikes after 20-30 minutes; change your fly patterns. We made a list of the best bass flies that work in most rivers, creeks, and lakes.

When you’re dealing with clear water, you want your fly to look as natural as possible. Fish can examine every detail, so choosing smaller flies (sizes 16-22) and matching real insect colors gives you a serious advantage.

We always suggest taking a quick look at what insects are actually on the water. You’ll be surprised how often a close match gets an instant response. But if you fish in murky or dirty water, you need an opposite approach.

This is because you need to prepare larger, brighter flies with chartreuse, white, or high-contrast patterns. Our best tip here is to try the simple hand test: if you can’t see your hand past your wrist underwater, it’s time to size up quickly with these bright attractor flies.

Water temperature controls fish behavior more than almost anything else. Cold water makes fish slow and picky, while warmer water makes them active and aggressive.

We always check water temperature before even stringing up our rod because it tells us exactly how the fish are going to behave.

At 40-50°F, fish are lethargic. Use slow, small presentations with nymphs or streamers placed right in their faces. Once you hit 50-60°F, you're entering the sweet spot. Fish start feeding more and respond better to a wider variety of flies.

Weather changes what insects are active and how fish respond, so paying attention to conditions helps you choose the right fly and presentation.

Bright sunlight can shut down insect hatches because most bugs prefer to emerge when the light is softer. We notice that cloudy skies usually mean better hatches, since insects feel safer coming out in the shade.

Overcast conditions do the opposite. Fish feel less exposed, move around more, and are more willing to chase your fly. One extra tip: when the barometric pressure drops, fish often feed aggressively. It’s one of your best times to be on the water.

Wind speed actually matters for fly fishing. That 10-15 mph breeze is perfect for terrestrials because it blows grasshoppers, ants, and beetles into the water. Pay attention to wind direction and fish the downwind banks where insects collect. Peak terrestrial season runs from July through September in most regions.

Early spring brings blue-winged olives and midges, while late spring has caddis and March browns. During summer, you’ll see terrestrials and PMDs, and in fall, the blue-winged olives return along with October caddis. Winter slows things down, and you’ll mostly be matching midges.

If you fish in cold months, check out the best winter flies that work when trout are picky.

Everything above tells you which fly category to use. Now, let's get specific about when each type works and why. This is where all that observation pays off.

Wet flies work mid-depth, great after rainstorms or during wind. Swing them across the current and let the water animate them. Streamers work when targeting larger trout or bass that feed on baitfish. Use patterns like woolly bugger or zonkers. Target deeper pools and undercut banks. You'll get fewer strikes but bigger fish.

Terrestrials like hoppers, ants, and beetles crush it during summer. Fish hoppers on windy days near grassy banks. Our fly assortments give you ready-to-use selections for different conditions.

Your rod choice affects casting accuracy and presentation. Check out our guides on the best fly fishing rods for beginners and our beginner's checklist so you're fully prepared.

Many anglers overthink matching the hatch. The truth is, you don’t need a perfect match. Close enough usually works. If you're not getting bites after 20-30 minutes, change your fly or try a different depth.

Don't buy 100+ flies either. Reality check: 10-15 patterns cover 90% of situations. Browse our dry and nymph fly assortment that includes 48 flies, enough to fish effectively for an entire season.

Another big mistake is ignoring what others are doing. If someone nearby is catching fish, take a moment to observe their setup and keep your fishing journal. Write down what worked, along with water conditions and weather. Over time, you’ll start to see patterns that make you a much more effective angler.

Reading about fly selection only gets you so far; you need time on the water. Start with the basics: observe what's happening, match size first, and try nymphs when nothing's happening on top. The best anglers still guess wrong plenty of times.

The difference is that they adjust quickly and keep fishing. Time on the water beats time in a fly shop every time. As you get more advanced, learning about tying materials for fly fishing lets you create custom patterns for your exact local conditions.