Years ago, when I started learning competitive fly fishing, some people recommended Stan Headley's books from Scotland. Those two books really changed how I saw trout fishing in lakes, and their lessons still stick with me. One of the main ideas Stan and other writers focused on was the use of colour in trout flies.
In North America, bass and walleye experts often talk about picking bright colours based on the sky and water. You'll hear similar tips for salmon and steelhead, especially on the West Coast, the Great Lakes, and in Atlantic Salmon fisheries. Still, there isn't much local discussion about using bright fly patterns for trout lakes, especially from a Canadian or North American perspective. In contrast, in the United Kingdom and Europe, the use of bright, vivid "attractor" patterns for trout in lakes and reservoirs has a much longer tradition and is widely discussed among anglers. There, anglers often regularly switch between imitative and strikingly coloured flies depending on light, seasons, and fish activity, and many classic loch and reservoir styles prominently feature bold colours. These regional differences mean that colour strategies effective in one place may not always be as familiar in another, so understanding both
perspectives can help anglers apply the most effective approach in their local waters. As a prairie angler, learning about this has been a long journey, but every step has been part of the adventure.
As a western Canadian fly angler with a gift for chasing steelhead and various other fish, I was accustomed to using brightly colored flies in steelhead waters and around Walleye and Northern Pike. Back then, there wasn't much information on using these bright colours for different rainbow trout strains or trout in Canada overall. For years, I learned through trial and error, with only limited success, and eventually went back to "matching the hatch," which usually meant sticking to more natural shades like greens, browns, duns, and yellows.
One concrete example stands out: early on, I tried a bright orange-bodied fly (Blob) on a popular prairie trout lake one spring. Despite my confidence, I couldn't get a bite, while an angler nearby caught several rainbows on a drab olive nymph. I switched to a natural pattern and immediately hooked into a fish, reinforcing my belief that subtle, imitative flies worked best. However, I later revisited that lake in late September, this time tying on a vivid chartreuse-and-white"Booby" fly. This time, the bite was steady and aggressive, far outpacing any success I'd had with natural tones in previous autumns. This experience taught me that bright colours weren't universally effective or ineffective, but that timing and conditions make all the difference. For me, being willing to experiment, note what failed, and recognize when to switch to something bolder has been the key lesson. The Blob was met with resistance and often laughed at by many western anglers not that many years ago. Today, with some folks pushing the use of this pattern in many variations, most often the Tequila Blob. The Blob has taken on a life of its own in our local waters.
Stan Headley's philosophy on fly pattern colour is based on the belief that trout are highly visual "vision feeders" that perceive a vast range of subtle tones and shades. His approach follows the traditional adage: "Bright day, bright fly; dull day, dark fly."
Key aspects of his philosophy regarding bright and coloured patterns include:
Attractor Function: Headley uses bright or high-contrast colours to create "attractor" patterns. For instance, his Worm Fly is a simple attractor with a bright red floss tail intended to trigger strikes rather than imitate a specific insect hatch.
Response to Light: He emphasizes that pattern selection must match prevailing light conditions. In bright conditions, he favours orange and yellow patterns, a strategy borrowed from loch trout fishing, in which visibility is high.
Low-Light Progression: As natural light fades at sunset, Headley follows a specific sequence for pattern selection:
- Start with patterns containing red.
- Move to claret and silver.
- Finish with silver and black as total darkness approaches.
Subtle Tones vs. Brightness: While he uses bright attractors, Headley also stresses that fly acceptability frequently relies on the "subtle tones and shades" of a pattern. He encourages experimenting with tone (light vs. dark) based on the fish's mood and the intensity of available light.
As my training and research advanced, supported with more trial and error, I found that many other authors mentioned the use of bright colours in trout fishing lakes and rivers. Still, my primary focus has been on lakes in recent years.
Many respected fly-fishing authors recommend using brightly coloured "attractor" flies to catch trout in lakes. They often contrast this lively, stimulus-driven approach with the traditional "following the hatch" method, which focuses on imitating natural insects. Such diversity in tactics offers anglers a wide range of effective options for their fishing adventures.
Bob Church: Church is well known in the world of reservoir and loch fishing for popularizing high-visibility lures. His renowned Appetizer pattern—created back in 1972—uses bright orange and white marabou to help catch the attention of brown and rainbow trout, encouraging them to strike. His work, such as Bob Church's Guide to New Fly Patterns, includes hundreds of lively, modern patterns of their day that are perfect for our stillwater.
George Barron: A leading expert on wild trout in Welsh lochs (llyns), Barron emphasizes attractor methods to bring hungry wild trout to the surface. He often uses "bushy" bob-flies (top dropper) like the Loch Ordie or Clan Chief to create a wake that attracts fish from a distance, a technique especially effective in the wild waters of the north and west.
Peter Lapsley: While Lapsley is widely known for his authoritative guides on imitating the hatch, he also provided significant insight into stillwater attractor patterns. In his book The Bankside Book of Stillwater Trout Flies, he discusses the role of colourful patterns like the Peter Ross and Teal & Silver—traditional flies that rely on bright flash and colour instead of direct insect imitation.
Brian Clarke: In his influential work The Pursuit of Stillwater Trout, Clarke explores the psychology of trout behaviour in lakes. While he is a proponent of careful observation, he acknowledges the effectiveness of "stimulus" flies that use colour and movement to provoke a response when natural hatches are absent. The subject of stimulus and superstimulus in recent years has expanded in animal behavioural sciences, with greater knowledge, scientific research, and responses monitored by scientists. There is a distinct connection we are just learning to understand.
Superstimulus behaviour in fish towards colour occurs when an exaggerated or artificial colour signal triggers a stronger behavioural response than the natural stimulus for which the behaviour evolved. Fish, in particular, often prefer brighter, more saturated, or specific artificial colours (such as red or green) over natural, muted tones, even when these colours are less functional for camouflage.
Artificial Lures: Anglers use "gaudy" colours like chartreuse, pink, purple, and bright orange, which often attract fish better than realistic, muted-coloured flies, as these high-contrast colours can stand out in certain aquatic light conditions. Steelhead anglers know this all too well for this special rainbow species.
Why Fish Respond to Colour Superstimuli
- Visibility within Aquatic Environments: Because water absorbs light, bright colours can contrast sharply against a drab or grey background. In deep water, where red light is absorbed, a bright red object can be highly conspicuous.
- Communication: Many fish have intense, vibrant colours used to signal to mates or rivals, which can exceed those found in their natural environment.
- Sensory Bias: Fish often have sensory systems tuned to specific wavelengths (green/yellow for benthic fish or UV for surface feeders), and an artificial superstimulus that corresponds to or exaggerates this sensitivity will strongly attract them.
Factors Influencing Behaviour
- Background: Fish prefer higher contrast, such as darker backgrounds when moving, as it offers protection.
- Age and Species: Different species, and even different age groups, may respond differently to the same colour stimulus.
- Light Intensity: The intensity of the colour/light could impact whether it attracts or repels.Traditional Loch Authors: Historical figures such as R.C. Bridgett established the basis for this philosophy. His 1929 lists of popular Scottish flies included bright patterns like the Dunkeld (orange/gold), Soldier Palmer (red), and Butcher (silver/red/blue), which remain staples of the Scottish "loch-style" tradition today.
The switch between imitative and brightly coloured attractor patterns is generally dictated by the availability of natural food and the fish's aggression levels throughout the trout seasons (typically in western Canadian waters, April to October).
Early Season (March – May)
In the cold, early months, natural hatches like Large Dark Pond Olives (LDPOs) and Spotted Sedges are sporadic and short-lived.
The Strategy: Use bright attractors as "visual magnets" to draw inactive, post-spawning trout toward your team.
Key Tactics:
Authors like Bob Church and modern anglers recommend the "Washing Line" method, placing a bright, buoyant pattern, such as a Tequila FAB or Booby, on the point to suspend natural nymphs or buzzers on the droppers.
Clan Chief wet fly patterns with a "hot spot" (Mid Pink and orange tail) provide the necessary contrast in cold or stained early-season water.
Mid-Season (May – July)
As water temperatures rise, insect life becomes abundant, with major hatches such as Chironomids and Mayflies.
The Strategy: Transition toward imitative patterns (copying the hatch). When natural food is plentiful, trout often lose their aggressive instinct and become more selective.
The Exception: On very bright, cloudless days when fish aren't rising to hatches, George Barron and others suggest returning to attractor wet flies like the Clan Chief or Kate McLaren to "dibble" across the surface and provoke a reaction. This thinking broke me of using bright colours on a difficult day of fishing during a chironomid hatch, which was also accompanied by a scattering of Pond Olives, until I started using small mayfly nymph and chironomid pupa patterns with a dash of chartreuse. Once these flies achieved a bit of depth on a washing line (>1 foot), everything went completely insane. Most other anglers that day struggled to get a tap, let alone a fish. Yet the bite was on, and the fish responded well to the brighter-coloured fly patterns.
Late Summer to Autumn (Mid-August – October)
As natural hatches diminish, trout begin focusing on larger, high-energy prey such as fry (small fish) and Corixa.
The Strategy: Reintroduce bright, larger attractor patterns and lures.
Key Tactics:
This is the prime time for Bob Church's Appetizer, which works exceptionally well as a fry imitation near weed beds.
Mid-September to October is often the "fry bashing" season on lakes, where Humungous, Snake flies, and bright Boobies are used to trigger aggressive takes from fish looking to stock up for winter.
The most colourful and effective fly combinations in a lake with trout today include bright, contrasting pairs like Chartreuse & White, Red & Black, White & Pink, and Fire Orange. These are usually used in lures, Blobs, and boobies for active, aggressive fishing, especially for stocked rainbows, tigers and brown trout in coloured water.
Top Colour Combinations & Usage Examples:
Chartreuse, Pink and Yellow: Best for summer, offering high visibility.
Red, Orange and Yellow: Excellent in bright, sunny conditions for surface fishing.
White & Pink or White/Green: Highly effective as a late fall attractor pattern.
Black & Green/Hot Yellow (e.g., Viva): Ideal for varied light conditions.
Traffic Light (Red/Yellow/Green): Highly effective in buzzer patterns for spring.
Synonyms and Related Terms:
Attractor Flies: Flies designed to provoke a strike, rather than match the hatch, often use bright colours.
Lures/Blobs: Large, flashy flies using fluorescent Fritz.
Trigger Fly: A fly with bright colours (e.g., fluorescent orange) used to get a trout's attention.
Stillwater Patterns: Flies designed for lakes/reservoirs, such as the Snake Fly or Two-Tone Buzzer.
Stan Headley's writings, specifically about the use of colour in trout flies, changed my fly fishing greatly and have produced extraordinary results, often on days that I may have blanked. While I initially preferred natural tones for rainbow trout because that was my indoctrination, Headley, along with others, advocated the deliberate use of bright, high-contrast colours as attractors, rather than strict imitation of natural insects. Headley's philosophy stresses that trout are highly visual feeders and suggests matching fly colour to light conditions—using bright patterns on bright days and darker ones on dull days. He also recommends a progression of colours as daylight fades, starting with red, then moving to claret and silver, and ending with silver and black at night. In time, my experimenting with both bright and subtle tones, based on light and trout behaviour, has dramatically improved my fly-fishing success.
A helpful chart for the field.
