I guess I am really in the opportunistic camp too.

The trout that get big (let's say the top 1%) are very good at both hiding and foraging or they wouldn't have gotten to be the big guys on the block. These fish hog the best hiding spots, like way up under trees roots or the deepest of holes, and only come out to feed when and where the pickings are good. Cruising the shallows at night/ in stained water for minnows and young trout is a common pattern to gobble up plenty of protein, but local food bonanzas can get them going like a coffin fly fall, plenty of eggs behind spawning fish, or the alewifes coming over a dam. Just that night cruising the shallows is a common behavior that doesn't depend on the weather or special circumstances, so it is the usual time to target big fish. Of course a great hatch or the water rising or following schools of bait is a good time to run into a trophy, but on an average day with nothing special going on "night time is the right time." As Damon Runyon said,"the race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong, but that's the way you bet."

With the little black stone fly hatch coming up - I have never caught any large trout on the skittering dries but have got plenty of the little guys. The big trout don't generally want to spend the effort and I get a few on nymphs. However, the little black stone hatch is the time the crayfish start coming out and are still a bit sluggish in the cold water. Crayfish imitations have produced some big fish for me underneath the little black stones.

As an aside, one year a 20" wild brown was holding under a well hidden log on the upper SBR. I tried for weeks to get him with every fly I knew and he always let the littler fish snatch the flies ahead of him. It got real frustrating to get a nice drift to the big fish and see a 7" aggressive little guy get it at the last second. Well I had to get the lunker so I tied on my favorite large trout bait - a soft shelled crayfish (during mid day BTW). The big trout saw it and pushed every little trout out of the way in his rush to get it. If the biggest trout in a hole wants something none of the aggresive little fish will beat him to it.

All trout are opportunistic and wary, the trophy ones have just taken it to a new level.