We love to ride our mountain bikes and backpack to fly fish high alpine lakes or streams! The fish are always eager to play, and you usually have the water to yourself.
Given that most of our trips tend to be human-powered and 5 to 20 miles from the trailhead, we try to go as light as possible. So, bringing five fly boxes of bugs is not a great option.
Over the years, we have built a very compact and practical fly box for alpine fishing that we are very confident in. We thought it would be fun to share the details and see what folks think.
For reference, the fly box looks like this:
Our fly box goes pretty heavy on terrestrials. Key flies include:
- Beetle - beetles are our favorite fly on alpine lakes and creeks. We usually have two or three different patterns in sizes 12 to 16.
- Ants - a brown and black ant pattern are super effective, especially if you get look-offs on a beetle. Size 14 or 16 works best.
- Grasshopper - we tend to keep two or three smaller hoppers. We use the hoppers as part of the dry/ dropper rig if we need to nymph.
Attractors are the first fly we put on for a small creek filled with cutthroat and make up a considerable part of our alpine fly box:
- Humpies - oh, how we love humpies! We typically have six to eight red and yellow humpies in sizes 14 and 16.
- Royal Wolf - we tend to size up Royal Wolfs and carry a 12 and a couple of 14s.
- Royal Coachman - why not, the Royal Coachman is a great fly. We usually keep a couple in size 14.
- Madam X - we fish a lot of cutthroat water, and cutthroats love the Madam X. We usually carry a couple of smaller ones.
We carry a few traditional dry fly patterns as they are essential food sources for our fish friends:
- Adams - the Adams may be the perfect dry fly. We love the parachute Adams, and it is our primary mayfly pattern. We tend not to carry BWOs or PDMs and just fish an Adams in its place. Size 14 and 16 is our primary size, but keeping a size 12 in the box may be a smart addition if you have room.
- Purple Haze - the Purple Haze is a purple version of an Adams. Not sure why it works so well, but it does. We usually keep a couple in the box and use them if fish are looking off terrestrials.
- Elk Hair Caddis - when caddis are going, you just need a caddis. We always keep a couple in the box—usually tan in sizes 14 and 16.
- Griffth’s Gnat - this a great little fly for all kinds of things. We keep a small (18) and medium-sized (14) one in the box all the time.
We have been very resistant to carrying nymphs in our alpine fly box, but we have turned a corner and do carry a few:
- Pheasant tail - a beadhead pheasant tail has a ton of utility in the fly box. We keep a couple in sizes 16 and 18.
- Copper John - great little producer in a dropper rig. Size 18 is usually the only size we carry.
- San Juan Worm - for years we hesitated on fishing worm patterns, but we have come around. We carry one dark, small San Juan worm.
- Squirmy Worm - last year we fell in love with the beadhead Squirmy Worm with only a tail behind the hook. We keep one in the box all the time.
The flies above make up our Alpine fly box, and we feel confident taking them to any Alpine environment. Sometimes we will add a few specific flies based on local knowledge, but this core works great.
This collection represents about 40 to 50 flies in the box and weighs around 90 grams (3.2 oz ounces).
We would love to hear what you fish or how you would change up this box. Put some thoughts in the comments!