[21166]

I started fly fishing fishing for trout, and to this day I am a gear junkie. I tried using a sling pack and a belt pack, but always went back to the vest. My setup is much like @mgibbs with my tippet holder clipped to a zipper pull lower on the left side. Nippers and forceps share a coiled loop zinger. Floatant is in a top pocket, right side while split shot and indicators are in a top pocket left side.

That's a smart move to mount your net handle down. It's easier to grab and less likely to hang up on brush. It's no fun back tracking to find a lost net.

 

[21166]

I agree with this but trout and their bugs are still pretty foreign to me. I am learning and will get there, but right now, I struggle to know when to put on a hares ear vs copper John vs prince nymph.
Many times I finally get a size 20 spinner on only for them to key in on something else and I am forced to find new patterns to mimic.

Right now, I trout fish in Maine, the lower SE App mountains, and the west. I am in too many places to really learn one.

It is all about confidence.
Yesterday I fished a NE FL flood tide (I was actually on the bow as my buddy poled me)… I had my pliers, one rod, and two fly patterns, each with a spare.

For trout, it all comes right now.

There are many different hatches that come off during the year. But as I heard several years ago, "Ninety percent of a trout's diet is brown and about 1/8inch long" If I don't see any obvious hatch, my first fly will usually be a #16 pheasant tail. Unless they are fresh stocked fish, then I'll start with junk food, eggs, Y2K, etc.