Umpqua Fly Assortment Junk Essential

Overview

Umpqua's Junk Essential Fly Assortment is 30 flies of what anglers affectionately call junk: worms, eggs, mops and other bright, simple patterns that catch trout when nothing else will. It comes in Umpqua's UPG slit-foam Essential Box.

Junk flies work because they match real food that shows up in high, off-color or heavily fished water: worms washed in by rain, eggs during spawning season, scuds and sowbugs on tailwaters, and snails. They are also easy for fish to see. Purists may roll their eyes, but guides carry these for a reason.

How to Fish It

• After rain: dead drift the San Juan Worm, Squirmy Wormies and Twisted Worm near the bottom when rivers rise and color up.
• Spawning seasons: fish the egg patterns downstream of spawning fish in spring and fall, without wading through or fishing to fish on redds.
• Tailwaters: the Tailwater Sowbug and UV Scud match the crustaceans that fill many tailwater trout diets.
• Attractor plus natural: fish a junk fly as the top fly on a nymph rig with a small natural nymph trailing below.
• Mops: bounce the Mopsicles and Mop Brass along the bottom in deeper runs.

Choosing Color and Size

Each box holds two each of Smitherman's Twisted Worm Red, Horodysky's Mini Mopsicle Orange, Mopsicle Tan, Mop Brass Chartreuse, Squirmy Wormie Bloodred, Squirmy Wormie Jig Tungsten Bead Hot Pink, San Juan Worm Worm Brown, Gorman's Bead Head Egg Fluorescent Orange, Egg Oregon Cheese, Mylant's Sunny Side Up Sunburst, Egan's Tailwater Sowbug Rainbow, Dorsey's UV Scud Orange, Tokach's Znail, Hanner's Hot Bead Jolly Rancher Olive and Mayer's Hot Bead Mini Leech Black. Umpqua notes contents may vary with availability.