I'm heading up for a five day trip around Memorial Day. There's a couple brook trout lakes not far from my entry point that I'm going to spend at least a couple of days fishing. Sounds like crawlers produce pretty well in these lakes, but that sounds boring.

I'll be bringing decievers, buggers, micky finns, and leech patterns to target trout, as well as a variety of dries, nymphs, and San Juan worms just in case. I'll have both floating and sink tip lines.

Anyone have Spring stillwater fly suggestions for brookies?

What have you found most productive for stillwater brookie fishing in any season?

Where will I likely find mid May brookies? Mostly shallow (5-15 fow)?

RM

When fishing brook trout lakes I have had my best luck on small minnow imitations. In terms of wooly buggers, I would definitely include a bead head and some flashabou in the tail. You will also need to get somewhat deep, at least 6 feet down so you need a fast sink. You might use a sink tip, or what I do is create my own sink tips I can attach to my fly line with a loop to loop connection. You only need about 5 feet of sink tip to get your fly down fast. This is a lot more work in casting. I would use at least a 5 weight rod with a solid butt or fast action, and in casting from you canoe, use a 9 ft rod. I usually position my canoe about 40 ft from shore and look for sharp drops that then level off in boulders or rocks. You normally need to get down and anticipate some snags. Low light fishing is best.

Alternatively, if you see the brookies broaching the surface eating bugs you should change your strategy. Here, you can use a dry fly, or a minnow type lure that remains close to the surface, such as a small muddler. Feeding brookies are the easiest to catch. Fishing with a weighted wooly bugger is more of a searching game and you need to cover territory and ground. Good luck and report what your success was like.

PS: if you bring live bait you will use it. If you want to catch brook trout with a fly you need to only bring fly fishing equipment so you learn the techniques.
Best, JerryG

Thanks for the tips Jerry.

What kind of dries are typically best for late May stillwater trout? I plan to have a variety of shapes and sizes of May Flies, and some stimulators for searching. And of course I'll have poppers and other big bugs along for bass. I figure most of my success (fingers crossed) will be below the surface, but there's nothing better than hooking a trout on a dry fly.

RM

My go to brookie fly produced well last week- a classic Pass Lake streamer tied with black chenille, brown hackle, a deer hair tail, and a white kip-tail wing. However, in the midst of a heavy may fly hatch topwater was choice. In absence of the hex patterns I planned to tie pre-trip, my closest match was a variety of stimulators. These did the trick quite well, but I think anything that floated and twitched probably would have worked fine.

RM