As we roll into the first days of July, a change of thought to “summer strategies” needs to be considered for anglers looking to catch trout. Here are a few ideas to think about during this period where the catching is more difficult and water temperatures can become less comfortable for trout and trout anglers.
Plan your outings for the low light, cool portions of the day. Trout will tend to be more active during these times of the day. If you do fish the afternoons, try wet wading. Wear neoprene socks, your wading boots, long quick dry pants and a long sleeve, light weight shirt. This apparel will keep you cool and also protected you from the plants and bugs that will try to drive you from the stream. The trails are quickly disappearing and brush beating to get to your favorite spots can be challenging at this time.
With the bulk of the major hatches over for the year with the exception of the Tricos, think about the terrestrials. Ants, beetles, crickets and hoppers are all good choices. These food items will eventually out weigh the insects hatching from within the stream. Try running small droppers off of these patterns to increase your catch rate.
Practice, practice, practice your casting! Few anglers practice their dry fly casting at any other time than when they fish. You must be able to land a dry fly softly. All too often I’ve watched anglers given numerous chances to pick off wary, active trout only to slam them on the head with line, leader and fly. I refer to this as a concussion cast and I swear it has maimed and frightened many a trout on our streams. We are all guilty of this at times, but with a little practice the concussion cast can almost be eliminated from your delivery. Anglers who can land the fly softly almost every time will catch more fish.
Learn to pick up a dry fly without creating a disturbance. This practice is just as important as delivering the fly softly. Anglers who rip the fly out of the water after each drift will not only spook fish that are close by but will continue to “push” feeding fish just outside of their casting distance. Lift and load the rod slowly and evenly to break line/fly surface tension with the water. Proceed by adding smooth acceleration of the rod/arm to remove the line and fly from the water. Done correctly, there will be little if any disturbance to the water.
False casting is a technique used to judge distance, dry out flies and to control casting loops. During false casting while targeting a fish, the fly should not hit the water on the forward and back casts and should not persist for longer than 3 repetitions. Ideally 1 or 2 repetitions is desirable. The fly needs to be on the water, not in the air. Enough said.
Last but not least, Have fun! The rivers are in low water shape right now but the fish are still rising and eating. No matter how much rain we get it has not made a lasting difference to the flows or the color of the water. Expect that to continue until we get some hard and heavy summer showers. Don’t forget about the river bass fishing also. This is the time when those fish get cranked up. Practice because you want to get better!
10 users commented in " The Challenge of Summer "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackHey Andy –
Thanks for your work on the site. Always look forward to the posts.
Have you seen any tricos on the water in the mornings yet?
This great tip turned the day around while fishing on the Rush. The morning was uneventful. Took a load off and watched the river. A very similar fly to your photo lit on my knee. Matched it to a BWO type emerger and tried again. A bunch of takes and four fish in the net.
This was one of my smallest flies. Wondering how to fish tricos when they hatch knowing they are even smaller.
Tricos are small. The best way to fish them is long leaders 9 ft or better and light tippets 6-7x. You must have a variety of patterns to be the most effective. Duns and spinners are the most important. Males and females are also different colors and the fish get to choose which ones they eat each day. I will go into a little more detail in my next post.
Nice report Andy…especially about the need to practice casting during the off-times. Those are nearly every evening at home! Fun!!
Jeremy.
The mayfly in your photo hatches every day until the end of the season on our local W. WI streams and actually provides the most consistent dry fly action of the year for those willing to refine their technique. A #28 CDC comparadun works very well and the best hook profile is the Partridge Vince Marinaro Midge hook in that size. Fishing Trico’s is like a walk in the park compared to fishing Plauditus.
I knew you would notice that picture Jaybird. That one’s for you.
Tiempco makes some great hooks that work really well when tying for this hatch. It’s a short-shank light-wire that come in sizes 26, 28, 30 and 32. Don’t bother with the 26, it’s too big.
Tiemco hooks are not the ideal shape but they work ok. Partridge Vince Marinaro is a much better hook shape for this fly. Mustads are pretty good too. For most folks fishing this hatch is just too much BS.
Has anyone seen this same mayfly on lakes? The other morning I was on a local warmwater lake and the panfish were going nuts over what looked like a #28 olive. They had already fallen and I’m sure a trico or similar spinner would’ve done the trick. Sadly I only had bunny leeches and the 8wt.
From Mayflies An Angler’s Study of Trout Water Ephemeroptera by Knopp and Cormier: “Tricorythodes species are widely distributed across North America, with populations inhabiting the slower stretches of trout streams, rivers, and certain lakes.”
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