When the water starts to warm, you want to be ready. Stoneflies are going to move, and, after a long winter, the trout are ready and waiting. The best times to fish stonefly nymphs are in the morning and evening just before and after a hatch. This Tungsten Stone is a pattern that is suggestive of skwala in its smaller sizes and golden stones and salmonflies in larger iterations. It can be tied to imitate various stoneflies by changing the color of the materials.

Fish this pattern dead-drift beneath a strike indicator (set the indicator at two times the depth of the current) or high-stick it and watch the line. Add another nymph on a dropper to increase your odds.

Tie the golden stone variant on a No. 8 extra long nymph hook. Slide a tungsten bead up against the eye. For the tail and antennae, tie in yellow goose biots. Wrap one turn of yellow ostrich at the base of the tail. Construct the body with sulfur orange turkey biots. For the legs, tie in yellow medium barred Sexi-Floss. Finish with yellow ostrich herl for the thorax.

—Gary Lewis, for The Bulletin