Imitation Options
DURING A LONG SET OF YEARS, chasing trout all over this continent and a few others, I was always in frustrating pursuit of the single best pattern to match any given hatch. It became quite a quest: If I could find precisely the right fly to match the ubiquitous blue-winged olive dun, for example (also called Baetis), then I figured it would work whenever and wherever I might encounter trout feeding on them.
This quest failed, of course. I was able to narrow down and select my favorite patterns for several hatches that I bumped into frequently—such as Craig Mathews’ Olive Sparkle Dun for those bluewings, or Bob Borden’s March Brown Parachute for widespread March browns.
