Top 5 Flies for Arkansas Tailwater Trout – Beginner Edition

The other day I was fishing with someone who was pretty new to fly fishing.  He was amazed at the number of flies in different colors, sizes and weights. His amazement quickly turned to

anxiety as he pondered how long it would take him to build a selection like mine. Admittedly, the number of flies in my boat on any given day might border on insanity. I’ll defend that by saying that I tie flies and guide for a living, and that my collection of flies has accumulated over two decades of fishing. 

He asked me to narrow it down to a handful of flies that would get him the biggest bang for his buck.  I gave him my recommendations that day, but I thought some of you might be interested as well.

I’ve broken this down into just 5 flies that have given a lot of fish sore lips on our tailwaters. Not just the flies, though.  I’m going to cover specific sizes and colors that will see you through the biggest variety of conditions. This list is mostly for the wading angler, as that’s where most of us start, but I fish all of these quite often out of my boat. 

#5 – WOLLY BUGGER.  I know, I know….every “top flies” list has a wolly bugger in it. 

Well, there’s a reason for that.  It’s an incredibly versatile fly that also crosses into warm water species. For trout, you can fish it the classic way with a quartering downstream swing and subtle strips. You can dead drift it under an indicator, and in slow sections of river (or still water) you strip it much like a bigger streamer.  As long as it’s in the water, there’s no wrong way to fish a bugger.  

Narrowing it down to one specific size and color is hard, but I would probably go for a black bugger in size 10.  

• Color: Black is the only color my dad ever fished when I was growing up, and it’s still that way today. I know most people would probably go more neutral and say olive here…but between nostalgia and versatility, black wins for me. If the water has any stain to it, black cuts a much stronger silhouette and is easier to see. It seems to go against common sense or intuition, but black also keeps that same silhouette at night much better than lighter colored flies.  

• Size: Size 10 because it just works. Just the right size for any trout to eat.  

• Pro Tip: One more thing – go with a plain bugger without the bead. You can always add weight in the form of split shot or by slipping a fly-tying bead on your tippet before tying on your fly….but you can’t make a heavy fly lighter.

#4 – SOWBUG. I’m partial to a version I tie that I call the Tailwater Sowbug (shameless plug to check out my website), but there’s a pile of sowbug patterns out there that can all be good. 

Go to any of the tailwaters and turn over a few rocks and you will undoubtedly see sowbugs.  They look like the bugs I used to find as a kid called rollie pollies.  Trout eat them every day and they are a major part of the food chain.  Since they don’t “hatch” like mayflies and caddis, they are in the water all year.  

• Color: I’ve settled in to basically one color, a greyish–tan, and several sizes.  The color seems to work in sunny or cloudy conditions, and in a variety of habitats (gravel shoals, weed beds, etc.)

• Size: If I were to pick one it would have to be 16.  The size 16 is the all around that I feel comfortable fishing in bigger flows and in low skinny water.  

  
  

#3 – ZEBRA MIDGE – Arkansas’ tailwaters are midge factories.  Midges, like the sowbug above, are on the menu every day.  The Zebra Midge is the go-to for lots of anglers. 

From a guide’s perspective, they are durable and quick to tie.  Above all, they are deadly effective.  

• Color: Like many flies, you can get these in every color of the rainbow and then some. Different combinations of colors of body, ribbing and bead stack up quickly. Red seems to get the nod for me most often, as I don’t mind a little color in something this small to help it get noticed. 

• Size: Size 18 is where I land for most of my Zebra Midges.  It’s not so small that you’ll struggle to get tippet through the eye of the hook, but small enough to be natural and get eaten a lot.   

Dropped under a dry fly, trailed behind a bigger/brighter fly, or fished solo under a small indicator the Zebra just gets it done.  I’d bet that every time I’m on the water and nymph fishing is involved, a Zebra gets the nod at some point. 

#2 – SAN JUAN WORM.  Purists look away, especially from these last two flies on the list.  I’ve never understood why some anglers turn their nose up at the lowly San Juan Worm.  We’ve all known it for our whole lives…fish eat worms. Why fight it? Ever walk out after a big spring or summer rain to see your driveway covered in worms?

When the water rises after generation or increased flow from rain, new ground is flooded. The same thing that you see on your driveway happens for miles and miles up and down the river.  

• Color: There are lots of color options, but a natural, worm-brown would be the top pick.  It looks just like what they are used to eating and seeing in the water all the time. Sometimes, us humans have a tendency to try to improve things, but I think mother nature nailed it.

• Size: Size 14, or where the whole worm is about an inch long. I tend to fish bigger worms drifting higher water from the boat, but a wading angler will find success with the smaller worms.  

  
  

#1 – MICRO JIG. I’ve heard people tell me that it isn’t a fly…

which makes me chuckle. I’m not so sure what makes this less of a fly than any of the euro nymph jig hook streamers (or even a beadhead bugger for that matter).  Fact is, Micro Jigs are absolutely the one fly I wouldn’t leave the house without.  

I generally fish these under an indicator and set my depth to be within a foot or two of the bottom. What makes this so successful is that for something so small and unassuming, it gets down to depth very quickly and gets in front of the fish.

• Color:  Similar to the Wolly Bugger above, if I had to pick one it would be Olive.  It just seems to get eaten. Is it a leech, a minnow, a nymph of some sort....who knows? It passes well enough for any of these things.

• Size: When you think about jigs, don’t think hook sizes as you would for most flies. They are referenced by weight of the jighead. The 1/124^th oz jig is what gets tapped most often in my box.  It’s light enough that you can still cast it well on a typical 9-foot 5-weight rod, but still sinks well enough to fish deeper pools. 

Pro Tip: The marabou body is constantly moving in subtle currents.  For someone who is just beginning and still perfecting getting a solid dead drift, this fly shines.  If you are too aggressive with your mends and are moving your indicator, no big deal.  You’re just adding some action to this fly.  If I have clients in my boat and we are fishing slower water this is my go-to.  If the wind starts blowing, even better.  That little bit of action that the surface chop gives to your indicator seem to drive fish wild.  

There we have it….5 flies, in 5 sizes and colors that you can count on to get you going fishing our tailwaters.  If someone forced me out the door with just these flies and a 5 weight rod, I’d feel pretty confident that I could get the job done on our water and probably most water in the country.