Fountains of Youth – Classic trout flies that have withstood the test of time … flies that remain “forever young”

by Rusty Dunn

When you daydream about trout fishing, , what flies are your dreams made of?  Hoppers?  Ants?  Snappy attractors?  The first choice of many veteran anglers is beetles.  Trout are always receptive to a wayward beetle, and plump imitations cast along grassy banks can coax an observant trout out of hiding.  But did you know that beetles are often more abundant under the water than on top of it?, Or that beetles are available to trout even in the middle of winter?  Many species of beetles live most or all of their lives in the river.  If you’ve examined the bottom rubble of a trout stream, you’ve undoubtedly seen aquatic beetle larvae, but you prob­ably mistook them for caddisflies or stoneflies.  The three taxonomic groups are easily confused, but trout care little about taxonomy and a lot about food. Read More