Fly Fishing Tips – What to Do About Dry Fly Refusals

Don't take it personally – just tweak your approach.

Trout won't always eat the first thing you throw at them. | Photo by Jasper Taback

Few things are more frustrating than watching a trout turn its nose up at your fly. You did enough to get the fish interested, but your presentation wasn’t all the way convincing. Maybe it wasn’t quite the right pattern, the tippet was a little too thick, or your fly dragged at the last moment – whatever it was, you have to fix something. Here’s where to start. 

Wait and Watch

When a trout refuses your fly, it’s tempting to lace another cast to the same spot right away– the fish just about ate, so maybe all it needs is a second look. Resist temptation; something wasn’t quite right, and if you watch the water, you might find out what it was. 

Change Your Drift 

Before you think about changing your fly, change your drift. You might have the perfect fly tied on, but if your drift looks unnatural, you’re out of luck. When trout are keyed in on a particular insect, they want to eat things that not only look like that insect, but move like it too. 

Your first step should be to move your feet to achieve a more natural drift. Just a slight change to the angle of your cast may help you avoid any drag your fly experiences on the drift. 

Go Smaller

You put a second cast in, and your drift was perfect, but you still had no luck. Now’s the time to size down. Often, it’s not the fly pattern that irks the fish, but the size that seems unnatural. Sometimes, switching from a size 14 fly to a size 16 is enough to make a fish take it. 

Change Your Fly

The last resort. Go ahead and switch your fly, but keep the switch simple. If trout are still rising to bugs that look like the one you have tied on, there’s no need to change to a drastically different pattern. 

If the fly you’ve been fishing is brand new and riding high on the water, it might be as simple as switching to a similar fly with some wear and tear. A crippled insect is an easy meal for a trout, so try a fly that looks like it’s struggling to stay afloat.  

Tip Your Cap

If you’ve tried the tactics mentioned above and still can’t buy a bite, moving on to the next run is OK. Certain trout are well-educated – they’ve seen a bunch of insect imitations and have learned to tell them apart from the real ones. 

Resting a pool for a half-hour never hurts –  you might find that the fish are more inclined to eat when you try again. In the meantime, find some fish that are less selective. Dumb trout can be just as fun to catch as the smart ones.