The RS2 can be a highly effective fly pattern year-round, from stockers to wild educated trout. Photo By: Louis Cahill

There’s days when trout fishing is so slow, it seems like conditions couldn’t possibly get any worse.

You may find yourself questioning if any trout in the stream are willing to feed at all. At other times, you’ll have no problem locating pods of steady risers, but everything you throw at them is rejected. My buddy Brad in this situation usually volunteers to row the boat, opting for cold beer within arms distance and gazing at picturesque landscapes. The dude always has a Plan B ready to be put into action, ensuring he always has a good time on the water whether he catches fish or just a buzz, and I respect that.

The RS2 fly pattern time and time again never fails to produce for me during tough fishing situations. And it really has the ability to catch fish just about any way you fish it. Fish it solo on fine tippet to wary sippers and you’ll fool a couple guaranteed. Drop it off the back of a larger and more visible dry fly if you’re having problems seeing it, and it will ride in the film, usually fooling fish on even the most technical trout water. I even have great luck fishing an RS2 as my dropper fly in a tandem nymph rig dredging along the bottom of the stream. Thank you Rim Chung for inventing this dynamite fly pattern. Primarily, the RS2 was created as a baetis emerger imitation that would ride in the surface film, but tie it small enough, and it can also work very well imitating midges. Do me a favor and next time you’re getting your butt handed to you on the water, tie on an RS2 and see if you can’t turn your luck around.

Rim Chung’s website and RS2 Tying Instructions

Keep it Reel,