This spring, the water is very high. When the water is high and cool, trout fishing with streamers is excellent. One of the forage that the trout love to eat, salmon and steelhead fry, is everywhere at this time of the year.

It is not common for trout to spit up fry after being landed. On a few different occasions, the trout threw up a banded minnow. At first it was dismissed as a fry, but upon closer examination, it was a beautiful native minnow, the rainbow darter.

And so, I started tying imitations of the rainbow darter minnows and photographing them in their environment.Trout love to eat these and it is a great streamer for the arsenal.

The rainbow darters that I see in West Michigan are 2-4" in length. They are a bit more bulky than Johnny Darters, and much more colorful. Compared to other bottom dwelling minnows, they are terrritorial. Combined with their bright coloration, it is no wonder that the trout love to eat them.

Here is the pattern sheet. For photos of darters at our photo site, click here. For the next page of fly patterns, click here.Page: 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6