The Brown Drake and people hatches have been going on for a few days now,and I must say that I have not seen so many spinners in the air and on the water in quite a few years! I should have taken more pictures! With all the bugs on the water, there were big pods of fish feeding continuously, some of them with their whole backs out of the water. It was something to behold! Just seeing this feeding frenzy was worth the price of admission!
Where we were the bugs started coming out of the grass about 8:00PM and began their flight upstream to mate and lay eggs that would later float down to where these bugs had first emerged a day or 2 before. Wave and wave of these huge insects took flight. A few of them ended up on the water and the fish stated keying in on them. Slowly you could see rings of rising fish becoming more numerous as the spinner fall began. Pretty soon the whole creek was blanketed with dead or dying bugs and the feeding frenzy had begun.
Catching fish when this phenomenon is in progress requires discipline! It's hard not to just cast every time you see a fish rise. You need to pick one fish and cast into its feeding lane time and time again until your bug is the lone one approaching the fish you are targeting. Your cast must be precise, your mend perfect and drag-less, and if you have to feed line downstream your fly cannot move or all will be for naught. This is not the easiest fishing in the world! We are talking spring creek fishing with big wily trout who are presented with an overabundance of food. These fish don't have to even move to get fed just wait till the food floats right to them!
Scott and I scouted one night and guided the next.We heard utterances pf annoyance and frustration on the first night as we picked our way through some feeding fish.
Last night it was easy for some and not so easy for others. Why would the fish eat my fly over the thousands of naturals was one question. Another was : Why am I not catching a bunch of fish? The answer is the same: pick one fish, make a perfect presentation and you might. Keep trying and don't pull the fly away when the fish eats it. Meanwhile enjoy the full moon and a sight not many get to see!
The weather is supposed to cool off a bunch. Hopefully, this will mean that the hatch will be postponed or even prolonged. If it is cloudy, the bugs might even come out mid-day. If you decide to head down to the creek be sure you stop by the shop and stock up on bugs! We have the greatest selection of flies in town and it comes with some good advice as well. If you find that the shop has unexpectedly closed a little earlier than normal, I apologize! It's hard to make a fishing fanatic stay in the shop until 8:00PM when the Brown Drake hatch coincides with the full moon!
On another note, the Wood is completely unfishable right now. It's running at over 2000 cfs and visibility is nil. The Lost below the dam is 872 and fluctuating quite a bit. That is also high. The Lost above the dam is 1670 and ice-cold. We are once again in run-off mode, but it should not last too much longer. The high temps of the last week or so have brought down a lot of the snow.
Green Drakes are the next big player, both on Upper Silver Creek and the Wood. Caddis should start popping soon as well. The Preserve has seen some nice PMD hatches, and Magic Reservoir has been fishing great with big fish cruising the shallow shore waters in search of spawning perch.
Feel free to call or e-mail us at any time for more information. If you need some help catching fish or figuring out a piece of water, we have great guides to teach you some new skills or techniques.
We are talking about starting some fishing groups to share guide expenses with a regular meeting day and a pool of anglers from which o draw. It's still in the planning phase, but we will keep you posted!
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