Thursday, May 1, 2014

The quest to find a rising trout

So spring has sprung after a long winter. When I lived out west a guide once said go back east and go fish for your east coast trout. I have to tell you that finding these creatures has been no easy task this spring.
If you fish like I do in the winter time,  you have no choice but to nymph. When you first start nymphing it isn't so bad. I have never been one to be a purest to dry fly verses nymphing. There comes a point though were you want to see trout rising to dry flies. When I lived out west you would wait for the Salmon stone flies to start to hatch. Here on the east coast it is generally the Hendrickson mayfly. This year the weather has been insane. We get days where it hits 60 then the next day it is 30 degrees out. The water has barley had time to warm. The bugs have been hatching but the trout just haven't risen to the surface much. It comes in spurts when it happens for about 15 minutes and the rises will be sporadic. Needless to say, after a long winter we are waiting for regular weather. We were just pounded with rain last night. Upstate New York got over 300 inches of snow this year which is not a bad thing. Except at this point the rivers have been blown out for weeks. Yes you could fish some of them but how much time does one have to run from river to river and take care of other things. I'm not the only one in this boat as most of my other fly fishing friends have been chomping at the bit for some nice dry fly action.
Well hang in there I think it may be on its way as they have predicted Warmer weather in the next few days which may well bring off the bugs.
Preparing for these events is no easy task on a fly fisherman. One must tie bugs of all shapes and sizes and study a river system to find out what is hatching. http://www.troutnut.com/hatch/11/Mayfly-Ephemerella-invaria-Sulphur  http://www.troutnut.com/hatch/458/Mayfly-Ephemerella-dorothea-Sulphur these should be the next mayfly hatch to watch for after the Hendrickson and quill Gordan, which may very well be done hatching in the next week or they may explode with the warmer weather this week. So be careful with the high water and be ready to chase fish because it is coming my friends I assure you!