Dry fly
Reed Smut
Smutting-trout micro dry
Trout · GraylingSurface
A tiny black speck of a fly — little more than a turn of black hackle and a wisp of body — for trout smutting on Simuliidae in the surface film.
Fish this when
Warm summer afternoons on chalk streams when fish rise steadily and refuse everything — the classic sign of trout locked onto smut rather than olives.
Why it works
Smutting trout are size-selective before they are pattern-selective; almost nothing else in the box goes small enough, so getting down to a 22 matters more than the dressing.
Naturals it imitates
reed smut / blackfly (Simuliidae) adult
Typical zone & fishable range
usually
Surface
Film
Subsurface
Deep
Setup sensitivity: medium
Quick facts
Tying difficulty
Intermediate