Fly selection

Hey fellas, I am new to fly fishing and would like some relevant advise for the area. As you are aware its early and from what I can see there aren't many bugs flying around just yet. The question is, do you abandon dry flies and stick to subsurface or nymphs? If you do fish dry flies which are good to try when there isn't an apparent hatch going on early in the season? Any and all advise would be greatly appreciated. *Nick* Here is my first trout on a fly- scud patten fished weighted.

You can catch trout on dry flies even if there is no hatch in progress. My personal favorite attractor dry flies (flies that look buggy but don't match anything in particular) are the pass lake and royal coachman trude. If you want a couple of samples, message me and I'll send you some. Otherwise it sounds like you're on the right track, wooly buggers and scuds are good choices. You could add some soft hackle flies and muddler minnows to a basic mix of flies that work well. Hope this helps. Tom

Okay...obviously you trout dudes are secretive... Ill post my findings from the opener fishing near Viroqua this weekend. Scud patterns are almost always reliable, they can be found in virtually every stream, and seem to be plentiful. Crayfish are also a seemingly plentiful forage for most trout and i found a brown wooly bugger was good enough for me to catch a few fish without trying to match anything i found in a stream bug wise. It also seemed to me that even if an active hatch wasn't going on, and there weren't any bugs flying around, looking up what should be there given the time of year on a well placed cast could still conger up a hungry fish or two. If anyone wants to discuss this, or even tell me I am an idiot and don't have a clue feel free to comment or message me directly.