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I assume you are asking for early spring when the water is still very cold. Stay sub-surface. Streamers probably your best bet. If you want to fish a surface fly stick to small midges.
 
My go to guide fly is a bead head pheasant tail nymph. I tie them in sizes 10 down to 18. Hare's ear nymphs are similar and another great choice as are woolly buggers sizes 6, 8 and 10, Prince nymphs in sizes 10 down to 16. All are fished below the water. Take a lesson or book a trip with us at Shannons (I'm a part time guide out of that shop) and our guides can do more for you in a day on the water than you can do for yourself in weeks of flailing around. TU chapters are another great source of learning and many offer classes for free or on the cheap for beginners.

Welcome to the addiction! I've got 39 years under my belt and plan to die out on the water deep into my 80s or 90s. If you see an old dude floating face up many years from now, please don't wipe the smile off his face[hihi]
 
prince nymph, ears hair nymph, wooley booger....

what no one has said and add to the list is get a caddis pupa larva and make a dropper off your nymph..... early season its a awesome way to hook up with a trout because your nymph will fly by the trout and along behind hit comes the caddis pupa and the nail it... What you do is take a tie about 7" of 5 to 6 x to your nymph.. leave around 7 inches or what depth you feel based on water.. then tie your pupa to it...[up]
 
Advice: only enter the fly fishing world if you are ready to be obsessive about EVERYTHING fly fishing related. But should you wish to enter then get a 4-5 weight set up and a woolly bugger (black & olive are my favorites). Welcome to the insanity.
 
There are a lot of good flies mentioned. Anyone or a combination is good. I started tying a beadhead stonefly pattern last year size 8, my own recipe, with the wings pointed towards the tail, not out from the head. I never use anything else now, anywhere, anytime.
 
Where is Shannons never been.
Shannon's Fly & Tackle is in Califon on the banks of the South Branch Raritan a mile or so upstream of the Ken Lockwood Gorge TCA (trout conservation area).

hey bucksnbows, what do u charge as a guide? does it go by the half day?
I'll send you a PM with our rates. We have full and half day trips for 1 or 2 anglers and we can handle larger groups with additional guides. And we have both private and public water trips. Private costs more, but you have the water to yourself (South Branch Raritan behind the Raritan Inn) and our fish are MONSTERS! Bkill from this site is our head guide and all around great guy, BTW.

I guide both the Musky and SBR and sometimes on the Flatbrook. Because I work on the Musky and have lots of great landowner connections, I sometimes guide on private waters that are not otherwise open to the public and this river has tons of public access anyway. If you stay away from the stocking points (pretty much all the bridges over the river), then you avoid the crowds and have miles of open river full of trout - both wild and stocked - all to yourself.
 
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