It seems that everyone wants to catch a big brown but in Arizona, it is never an easy task. Have you noticed that we rarely see photos of big browns in the heat of the summer and when we do it is during a storm? It’s because these fish become nocturnal in the summer and go deep and hide on bright, sunny days.

Typically, we go after them during the spring, fall or during monsoons.

In the spring, they have just come off winter and are hungry. Water is high from runoff which makes an ideal situation. When the water is at a fishable flow but still off color, is the best time for finding them. Some of my biggest browns come during runoff. During this time, I like to fish without a strike indicator and with heavily weighted flies. My bottom fly is typically a simi seal leech tied on a jig hook with a tungsten bead. The top fly will be a prince nymph or pheasant tail with an orange tungsten bead. I will then dead drift them with the flies ticking across the bottom. I will let it drift below me and then strip back. Some take it on the drift and others on the strip. For lakes, you want to hit them as soon as the ice is off. They will be shallow looking for a meal. I would fish a slow sinking line with a leech pattern on a slow strip. You can do this either from a boat or from shore.

Scott Baxter with a brown during spring runoff

In the summer, we find them on cloudy, rainy days. While they hunker down in the bright sun, they will come shallow to eat when the sun is off the water and it’s raining during the monsoons. This past August, I was sitting on Sunrise with clients. It was 9:00 am and 54 degrees and raining. I looked at my clients and said “this is brown trout weather”. I loaded up the boat and headed to one of our brown trout lakes. We no sooner hit the water and they started hooking into some beautiful browns. I had one client fishing two leeches under an indicator and the other was stripping leeches. We were anchored in a spot when it dropped from about 6′ to 10′ of water. The trout were cruising and eating at the edge of where it dropped into deeper water. We were into them for about 5 hours and when the storm cleared and the sun came out, they immediately shut off. For streams, they will be active when the water pushes up and is off color from monsoon rain. Try dead drifting leeches or larger nymphs under an indicator or stripping a baitfish or leech pattern.

A nice Brown caught during the monsoons

In the fall, we don’t start chasing them until the temperatures drop. Once they are done spawning, they know winter is coming and they come shallow to eat. In streams, this is typically mid to late October. In lakes, it is late October to late November, weather permitting. If the streams are low and clear I would recommend being stealthy and throwing hoppers, large caddis, etc with a larger nymph or leech underneath. You can also strip streamers but it is important to get the fly to the fish before they know you are there. Once they see you, they will spook off and hide. Browns don’t get big by being stupid. If water is up, throw a nymph rig and dead drift leeches and larger nymphs. In lakes, you can either pound the banks from a boat or wade the shallows. Since there is more food shallow, you will typically find them off of rocky shorelines, points, and around dead logs and trees that have fallen into the water. Use a slow sinking line and vary your retrieve until you figure out what they want. This is the time of year when we really focus on using baitfish patterns.

Fall browns in November

Big browns are on everyone’s bucket list but are the most difficult trout to catch. It may take several outings and sometimes years to accomplish the goal but if you hit them at the right time, you will have a much greater chance at success.