Posted on May 03 2024
The month of April is in the rear view mirror. Despite my complaints about not finding good hatches it was my third best April ever, in numbers of fish caught. The percentage of fish over 17 inches (36%) was down slightly from last year but the number of fish in the nineteen inch column (the 2018 year class) showed that many of them are still around. The most encouraging part of my catch statistics were the numbers of two and three year olds which appeared system wide.
There were only three questions all month, I assume from this that you have all the answers, and just maybe I should be the one doing the asking.
Dennis wanted to know about articulated dry flies. I'm clearly not the one to ask as I thought they were a streamer type thing.
Jack McD asked when the evening fishing starts. Some of the evening fishing is weather (temperature) related. Hendrickson and paralep spinners are apt to fall in the middle of the afternoon (warmest part of the day), in the evening on warm days and even in the morning if it's warm enough. The epic upriver flights of apple caddis occur in the evening with the spinner fall just before dark. The first evening hatch is probably the Gray Fox, followed by the Invaria (spring sulfurs). Wind interferes not only with casting but with spinner falls, so the best evening fishing usually occurs on warm quiet nights. I caught two big rainbows last night sipping spent caddis in a still water pool just before dark.
Jim N. asked what changes I made to my equipment to cast in the wind. The simple answer is none. My eight foot four weight Winston is put together in April and taken apart in October. It is equipped with a double taper line, a twelve foot leader plus about three feet of six x tippet. I've bone fished on ocean flats for over forty years and the wind is probably less of a problem to me than the average trout fisherman. If there is a lot of wind I do try to fish places that are protected from the wind as much as possible. I also try to fish from the side of the stream where the wind is blowing the line away from my casting arm rather than into it. I'm still working on having enough patience to wait for a gust to let up before making a cast, (maybe when I get a little older).
With the questions out of the way, I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to report on their trips to the river. Your reports help keep us all up to date on what is happening throughout the entire river system.
Thanks for answering my question and describing your set up. Like you, patience to wait for a break in the gusts is a virtue I don’t have until the fly almost hits me in the face.
Great report. Hope to be up next weekend. Stop a Troutfitters maybe buy a book. Lol
Thanks for answering my question A119. I ve never seen articulated flies before they showed BWO and caddis. I fished the WB today and had a good day 6 in the net and 3refusals. I haven’t fished the red barn yet this year and I haven’t seen many people there the times I have driven by. I started at 1:30 and left at 4. Not a huge hatch but enough so the fish were up. The biggest fish I caught was 15 and the rest in the 12-13 in class
A119. Thanks for the info on evening hatches. Flated the middle west yesterday down to Hancock. Best day ever in terms of numbers. 14 to the boat. Lots of angler induced non hookups as well. Hit the Hendrickson hatch in a riff and just below it and the rainbows were up and on fire. Had to play the wind right but for an hour they were not too fussy!!
Thanks so much for all the great writing! You are a lot of fun to read each day!