Time to Hit it Hard

I think most of the rivers and streams are down and fishable now. The exception is the Logan. It's still to high for me, although, I know others who are fishing it now. The upper stretches opened this past weekend so I'll probably take a trip up sometime this week.

I've been fishing the Blacksmith Fork and it's tributaries, and have been catching my share of 8 to 14 inch trout. The tributaries have been fun with larger dry flies. I've been slinging a size 12 Looped Foam Cicada: black body with an orange, red, or green head. The trout seem to jump right on it. Of course, they may just jump on anything that hits the water. They don't seem to picky on patterns. Stealth is the key to success---along with a good presentation.

I talked with some Utah Division of Wildlife Resource employees last week and they mentioned that the snakes (rattlers) are out and about. I saw a dead one on the road towards the mouth of the canyon and saw a fly fisherman carrying a shed skin up from the bank of the river. Watch your step and where you place your hand when climbing around.

I'm hoping to hit it hard now. I'll try to get pictures to go with the adventures.

Success With the O2 Air-filled Stonefly Adult

F/V Gulf Ventur was able to hit a stonefly hatch this past week. I had tied up some O2 Air-filled Stoneflies for him to try. He sent me this picture with a little report of their success. One of his friends went back up to try it again. Hopefully, I'll get another report. While this hatch is pretty much over on many of the smaller, local Utah waters, it should be starting on the northern waters of Montana.

Looking for Stones

Everyone knows the large stonefly hatch (Pteronarcy californica) can be a frustrating hatch, especially if you are driving for five or six hours or more to hit some of the fabled waters. Many a fly fishing writer has given the reasons for missing the hatch, or just plain complaining that they can't get a trout to look at a stonefly dry. Then they start to analyze patterns and wonder about color and size and materials. Then they wonder about how to fish the imitation. Do I plop it on the water? Do I land it as gently as I can land a size four or six, long-shanked fly? Do I dead-drift it? Do I skitter it? Do I let it float high or let it settle into the surface? All this thinking can drive you to frustration or you can enjoy it as part of the intrique of fly fishing. It's up to each of us how we will respond.

I've found that by fishing a few smaller local waters, I can take the frustration out of the equation. These smaller waters are easier to read, and have willing, hungry trout in them. Whole sections of water can be worked from bank to bank. If the stoneflies have been around, I can usually get a few willing trout even if the bugs have disappeared from the stretch I'm fishing.

I fished a stretch of water on June 4th. Stoneflies had been in the area the previous week and so a few of us decided to give it a shot. I had a couple of hits on a Twisted Foam Stonefly but was unable to hook the fish. I then decided to tie on a small brown stonefly as a dropper; size 12 hook. I took a couple of small 10-inch browns but still had a few trout hitting the dry with no hook-up. I finally managed a small 12-inch brown on the dry fly. He totally inhaled the pattern and I had to use some foreseps to reach down and remove the fly from its mouth. I picked up a couple more browns on the nymph and had a few more hits on the dry. I was very disappointed on missing around ten trout that hit the dry. Looking for excuses, I blame the hook or maybe the size of the fly. The dry was tied on a Mustad hook and the point just didn't seem to be that sharp. I have heard others be very vocal about Mustad hooks, but have had enough fish caught on them that I didn't pay much attention to them. Now, I am wondering if in the larger hooks, the sharpness is diminished. Maybe it was a combination of the hook and the size of the fly? Maybe it was a factor of the foam fly riding too high? I'm going to tie up some new flies on a different hook and go out either Monday or Tuesday night and give it another shot. I'll let you know the results.

STONEFLY ADULT UTAH RIVER

June 2, 2008 I found a bunch of stoneflies in the bankside willows on the Ogden River. I'm not sure this picture does justice to the orange body. Some have speculated that the orange body on many of the artificials is detrimental but after looking at the naturals, orange is the color that stands out.

The Chain Gang!

Getting ready for a few mayfly hatches. Just a handful of Blue-winged Olive, Pale Morning Dun and Mahogany Dun mayflies tied with the chain_stitched body technique.

AIR BUGS!

< Photo by F/V Gulf Ventur (other sample photos on his site just click on my link: Real trout Bum).

Air-filled fly body. I've been tying and fishing air-bugs for several years now. Great material to imitate large insects like stoneflies, cicada, grasshoppers, beetles and crickets.

Photo by Bushrat.>>>

Marty Howard Photo of Golden Stone Nymph

Marty and his son seined this golden stone nymph out of one of our Utah waters. Thanks for sharing the photo Marty. You can visit Marty's web site at www.martyhoward.com