Fly fishing by state

Mountain West

Fly fishing in Idaho

Rainbow, cutthroat and brown trout on spring creeks and freestone rivers. Technical dry-fly water on the Henry's Fork, salmonflies on the South Fork.

Mid-Atlantic

Fly fishing in Pennsylvania

Limestone spring creeks and wild brook trout, plus one of the largest trout stocking programs in the country. Technical water with a long angling history.

Mountain West

Fly fishing in Montana

Big freestone rivers and famous tailwaters: the Madison, Yellowstone, Missouri and Big Hole. Salmonflies in June, hoppers in August, open stream access.

Mountain West

Fly fishing in Colorado

Technical tailwaters and Gold Medal water. Small flies on the South Platte, mysis-fed browns on the Fryingpan, and caddis climbing the Arkansas in May.

Great Lakes

Fly fishing in Michigan

Spring-fed rivers, wild brook trout and night fishing. The Au Sable's Holy Water, the Hex hatch in June, and steelhead on the Pere Marquette.

Mountain West

Fly fishing in Wyoming

Tailwater rainbows on the North Platte, native fine-spotted cutthroat on the Snake, and park water that needs its own permit. Hopper fishing in August.

Mountain West

Fly fishing in Utah

The Green below Flaming Gorge, clear enough to count fish from the trail. Technical tailwaters on the Provo, and tiger trout in the mountain lakes.

Pacific Northwest

Fly fishing in Oregon

Summer steelhead on the Deschutes and North Umpqua, spring-fed redbands on the Metolius, and the river where the drift boat was invented.

Northeast

Fly fishing in New York

Where American dry-fly fishing started. The Beaverkill and Willowemoc, the wild and difficult Upper Delaware, and Adirondack pocket water.

Southern Appalachians

Fly fishing in North Carolina

Native brook trout in headwater streams, technical browns on the Davidson, and delayed-harvest water that fishes beautifully from October to June.

Pacific West

Fly fishing in California

Spring creeks at Hat Creek and Fall River, big tailwater rainbows on the Lower Sacramento, and golden trout in the High Sierra.

Pacific Northwest

Fly fishing in Washington

The Yakima as the state's one true trout river, Olympic Peninsula winter steelhead, and desert lakes holding rainbows that behave like saltwater fish.

Upper Midwest

Fly fishing in Wisconsin

Driftless Area spring creeks with some of the highest wild brown trout densities in the country, and thousands of acres of easement access.

Ozarks

Fly fishing in Arkansas

World-class brown trout in Ozark tailwaters, fishable twelve months a year — if you read the generation schedule before you drive out.

Southwest

Fly fishing in New Mexico

The San Juan Quality Waters below Navajo Dam — tiny flies, enormous rainbows, twelve months a year — plus two of the rarest trout in America.

Southern Appalachians

Fly fishing in Tennessee

The South Holston's sulphur hatch, which runs most of the year, plus Smokies brook trout. Check the TVA generation schedule before you drive.

New England

Fly fishing in Vermont

The Battenkill, which humbles people, and Green Mountain brook trout streams. Manchester is where American fly fishing became a business.

New England

Fly fishing in Maine

Nearly all of America's remaining wild brook trout ponds are in Maine. Landlocked salmon on streamers at ice-out, and water you reach by canoe.

Mid-Atlantic

Fly fishing in Virginia

Native brook trout in Shenandoah National Park, a limestone spring creek at Mossy Creek, and tailwater browns on the Jackson and the Smith.

Alaska

Fly fishing in Alaska

Rainbow trout that follow spawning salmon and feed on their eggs. Bristol Bay in September is the biggest trout fishing in North America.

Southwest

Fly fishing in Arizona

Lees Ferry — fifteen miles of cold clear tailwater in red rock desert — and the Apache trout, the first sport fish ever recovered off the endangered list.

Ozarks

Fly fishing in Missouri

Four spring-fed trout parks that open with a siren on 1 March, Lake Taneycomo below Table Rock, and wild McCloud-strain rainbows in Crane Creek.

Southern Appalachians

Fly fishing in Georgia

A genuine trout river inside Atlanta, delayed-harvest water that fishes all winter, and native brook trout in headwaters above 2,000 feet.

Upper Midwest

Fly fishing in Minnesota

Driftless spring creeks in the southeast, North Shore steelhead, and brook trout lakes you reach by canoe. Three fisheries in one state.

Great Basin

Fly fishing in Nevada

Pyramid Lake, where anglers fish from stepladders for the largest cutthroat trout on earth, and tailwater browns on the East Walker.

Great Lakes

Fly fishing in Ohio

Steelhead Alley. Lake Erie tributaries from Cleveland to the Pennsylvania line, fished from October into April by anglers who drive hours for it.

Mid-Atlantic

Fly fishing in Maryland

The Gunpowder Falls, a wild brown trout tailwater half an hour from Baltimore, and the Savage River's native brook trout in the far west.

New England

Fly fishing in Connecticut

The Farmington River — one of the best wild brown trout tailwaters in the Northeast, fishable twelve months a year within two hours of New York.

Texas

Fly fishing in Texas

The Guadalupe below Canyon Dam — the southernmost year-round trout water in America, kept going by the largest Trout Unlimited chapter in the country.

New England

Fly fishing in New Hampshire

Native brook trout in White Mountain streams, landlocked salmon on the Androscoggin, and the Connecticut headwater lakes in the far north.

New England

Fly fishing in Massachusetts

The Swift River below Quabbin — gin-clear, cold all year, and fished on size 24 flies — plus the Deerfield, and sea-run brook trout on Cape Cod.

Upper South

Fly fishing in Kentucky

Seventy-five miles of cold Cumberland River tailwater holding the state's biggest browns, and Hatchery Creek — a trout stream built from nothing in 2016.

Southeast

Fly fishing in South Carolina

Mountain trout in the upstate, the Chattooga on the Georgia line, and a cold tailwater running through the middle of Columbia.

Great Plains

Fly fishing in South Dakota

The Black Hills: spring-fed limestone creeks surrounded by prairie that holds no trout at all. Rapid Creek runs through the middle of Rapid City.

Southern Plains

Fly fishing in Oklahoma

The Lower Mountain Fork below Broken Bow Dam — a genuine year-round trout river in south-eastern Oklahoma — plus the Lower Illinois and the seasonal Blue.

Southern Appalachians

Fly fishing in West Virginia

Wilderness brook trout on the Cranberry and the Williams, limestone-fed browns on the Elk, and the golden rainbow trout the state invented in 1963.

Mid-Atlantic

Fly fishing in New Jersey

Ken Lockwood Gorge on the South Branch Raritan, wild browns in the north-west, and one of the heaviest stocking programmes in the country.

Upper Midwest

Fly fishing in Iowa

Around a hundred cold spring creeks in the Driftless corner of north-east Iowa, in a state otherwise given over to corn and catfish.

Great Lakes

Fly fishing in Indiana

Lake Michigan steelhead on Trail Creek and the St. Joseph, and brown trout in the Brookville tailwater at the other end of the state.

Southeast

Fly fishing in Alabama

The Sipsey Fork below Lewis Smith Dam — the only trout water in Alabama — plus some of the best bass and bream fly fishing in the South.

Great Lakes

Fly fishing in Illinois

Steelhead off the Chicago harbours, two stocked trout openers a year, and a corner of Driftless spring creek country in the north-west.

Great Plains

Fly fishing in Nebraska

Spring-fed Sandhills creeks and Pine Ridge canyons holding wild brown trout, in a state almost nobody associates with trout at all.

Great Plains

Fly fishing in Kansas

A winter-only trout fishery, stocked from December to March into designated waters — and some of the most underrated warmwater fly fishing in the plains.

New England

Fly fishing in Rhode Island

The Wood River and the Wood-Pawcatuck watershed, heavy stocking, wild brook trout in a few headwaters, and stripers twenty minutes away.

Mid-Atlantic

Fly fishing in Delaware

A short stocked trout season on a few northern streams, and the cheapest fishing licence in the country at $8.50 for residents.

Great Plains

Fly fishing in North Dakota

Stocked trout in a few dozen prairie lakes and the Missouri tailwater — and some of the best northern pike fly fishing in the country.

Gulf Coast

Fly fishing in Louisiana

No trout at all — and the best redfish sight-fishing on earth, in the marsh south and east of New Orleans.

Gulf Coast

Fly fishing in Mississippi

No trout anywhere in the state — but oxbow bass, summer bream on poppers, and redfish in the Mississippi Sound.

Gulf Coast

Fly fishing in Florida

No trout, and the best saltwater fly fishing on earth. Tarpon, bonefish and permit in the Keys; peacock bass in the Miami canals.

Pacific

Fly fishing in Hawaii

Stocked rainbow trout at Kōkeʻe on Kauaʻi, open mid-June to September — and bonefish on the flats, which is the real reason to bring a fly rod.