Trout Fisherman(bird brain)
We did get up to a half inch of rain yesterday morning which made me happy. The midges continue to be thick in morning and evening, so don’t forget to fish these little critters if nothing else is working for you. Larva and adult. The upper Kinni had just a bit of color to it and water temps were in the mid to high 50’s. The evening, complex hatches have started in and around the rivers of Pierce County, enabling you to throw some dries. There is a mix of caddis, Mayfly and Midge activity. The Rush is still clear and spooky. Anglers are throwing their whole fly box at the trout with less than the success rate that they want. Here are a few tips:
Use your brain to think like a fish, not like a human.
Try dry fly dropper rigs now. The low water and splash of strike indicators in soft water can scare fish.
Sight fish! Teach yourself to look for and see fish. It is a skill and it can help you locate fish to target instead of fishing blind.
Fish have been feeding heavily during low light and cooler temps. There is no lack of food right now, their stomachs are full. Get on the river in the early morning or fish evenings. It is still May and there is good afternoon fishing to be found, just think about the conditions!
Be stealthy! You may think it’s not critical but the fish are already gone by the time you get there, if you think that way.
There is a bit of confusion about the light colored mayflies of summer that are about to hatch on the rivers of Pierce County. Without going into great detail and Latin, realize that we are talking about more than one bug. One hatches in the afternoon and one in the evening. One is bigger than the other and there is color variation between them. Color variation even between rivers. The hatches do not go off river wide and there will be no hatches in many sections of river. You have to go Find Them. I would like you to catch one of these PMD’s, Lt. Hendricksons, PAD’s, PED’s, Sulphurs, in a photo in the next few weeks and send it to me . We can try to solve this mystery and help you better understand what is going on with the bugs out there. Make sure you include the time of the picture and general location of where the bug was.
I will be out of town for the next few days.
BREAK THE FUN METER
3 users commented in " A Bit of Rain….and Use Your Brain "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackAndy – as usual you are hitting the nail, squarely on the head. I was out on a section of the rush yesterday from 1:00 until 8:30. During the afternoon there were fish rising sporadically. There were a few bugs coming off – but nothing consistent. I took fish on craneflies, caddis, and comparaduns but never quite figured out what they wanted. It was slow late in the afternoon and then about 7:00 it was just as you described – multiple hatches and tons of midges. Fish were rising steadily and it was another puzzle to figure out just what they wanted. I took some fish – but they let my flies float by waaayy more often then they took them. Looking forward to a steady hatch of something that keeps the fish looking up and focused on one thing.
The black beetle hatch is always on.
Tried the lower Kinni, upstream from Cty Rd F on Thursday afternoon and evening, the 28th. Observed the multiple hatch problem & opportunities as described by Andy. Add the small yellow stonefly to the mix. Early afternoon experience frustrating, yet the challenge was fun, fun, fun! Sight fishing to LARGE browns in shallow water is a real kick. They were (as I finally figured out) taking the small sulphur just as they hatched. A #18 3xl pheasant tail floating just under the surface, using a (larger) CDC sulphur as a locator/indicator about 24″ up from the nymph worked well. As I told my wife, I caught a 24″ in the most exciting way: two 12″ on at the same time! Lots of fun on a 3WT. Landed & released both.
Hatches steadily lasted ’till way after dark, except, of course, during the kayak parades. Three cute young women in bikinis, hordes of fuzzy faced college age boys. Fish started rising again after about 10 minutes or so. Would have been upset, but the bikinis were worth the wait.
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