Trout Foods and Their Imitations

     The types of foods that trout eat are varied and range from aquatic and land born insects to forage fish and crustaceans and all of them can be imitated by the fly fisherman. However, large trout are seldom able to obtain enough food from drift feeding and thus, they tend to become nocturnal predators in order to satisfy their energy requirements. In fact, large Brown trout in our western North Carolina streams seem to be particularly fond of crayfish which are most active at night. However, there are populations of large Rainbow and Brown trout in some northern locations that are known to eat mice and lemmings on a regular basis! Fortunately, the state of North Carolina does allow night fishing for trout on Hatchery Supported waters (see Licensing and Regulations). So, if you really want to catch the big ones, pick a moonlight night, get out your head lamp and your wooly buggers, and go fly fishing!