Backcountry Fly Fishing: Tactics for Success in Remote Waters

My preferred method of fishing is backcountry fishing.  As a general rule backcountry fish tend to be dumber they see fewer flies and are more willing to take an artificial then fish that receive a lot of pressure.  They maintain their true natural predatory instincts while the pressured fish have had their's dulled over time by negative reinforcement from their lips being ripped by too many hooks. Backcountry fishing also differs from normal fly fishing because you usually field strip your fly boxes so save weight in the pack.  A small box with a select group of flies you hope will do the job.  As the years go on your box becomes more and more honed to flies you will use. The closer the season becomes the more I realize I have to hit the vise and get some flies tied. 

I love fishing top water flies to high country trout so the majority of my flies I take into the backcountry are dries. The number one fly I have to have in the high country is a hopper pattern.  For some reason greenback cutthroats are genetically engineered to need to eat these when they see them.  One of my favorites to use has been the hopper juans a wide range of sizes are needed.  You want to match the size of the hoppers they may be seeing usually pretty small but larger sizes get noticed and usually taken.  I do use a few other hopper patterns so experimental personal patterns and some bought patterns.  A good tutorial site for tying the hopper juan is http://hopperjuan.blogspot.com/2009/05/hopper-juan-tying-steps.html.


The next fly that is on my need to tie list because I currently only have one left in my, are stimulators.  I tie these flies with and without legs