Here at Hatches, we’re always on the lookout for interesting fly patterns. Probably the single greatest resource we have at our disposal for finding them is the Fly Pattern Database (which has grown to over 10,000 fly patterns!). No where else on the web can one find a greater archive of fly patterns, and we would like to thank everyone who has contributed to it. To express our great appreciation, and to make sure “older” patterns aren’t forgotten, we have decided to highlight three fly patterns from the database each week. We’ll share the best of the best, from the past to the present.

GLOBE PEQUOT ( THE LYONS PRESS, FALCON), November 1997
Binding Type: Hardcover
Retail Price: $16.95 at the Hatches Store
ISBN: 1-55821-067-9
“The trout’s biggest advantage is selectivity, and we can counteract it only by knowing the insects that make up his diet.  This is the reason for the study of stream entomology by the angler, and it is often the weak link in his skill.”
-Ernest Schwiebert
Trout Stream Insects: An Orvis Streamside Guide is by no means a new book.  However, since it was first published in 1990, it has successfully been introducing novice …

Sand Creek is a pretty little piece of trout water that harbors some very fussy fish. Clear water in a small creek demands a quiet approach; casting from the bank is a good strategy when fishing small flies to springtime trout. Photo by Russ Forney
Springtime in Wyoming can be pretty elusive. Just when the first flush of prairie wildflowers sweetens the air, the next storm buries them under a foot of snow. Somewhere between the first Meadowlark and the last new calf, winter finally begins to relax its icy grip. …

My mind leafed through the pages of a crumbling paperback to drawings made by a master with whom I was barely familiar. “This must be a Quill Gordon,” I said. “No, I think it’s a Hendrickson.”
I remember the day as if it were yesterday because it was my birthday and that Hendrickson was one of the best gifts I ever received. I’ve now spent 20-some years fishing this hatch. Twenty-some years of wrapping feathers on hooks. Twenty-some years of casting the same flies into the same pools. Twenty-some years of …

For the sixth time I place the CDC fly upstream from the long shadow hovering over the bottom, and for the sixth time I see it pass by without a reaction. Further upstream I see Chris catch another good sized grayling. Dammit, why won’t this fish rise to the one fly that seems to be working for everyone else today? In my frustration, I put a little too much force in the backcast. The fly snags the bushes and the tippet snaps off.
I wonder if I should go back to …