My first hybrid tea rose, Peace, bloomed this week. That means that our creamy and yellow mayfly friends are beginning on the lower river. The waters are down to an excellent 465cfs in Unionville. I’d hop on it, but I am crashing my final draft deadline of June 1. Please wish me luck, and I hope you get out this weekend…or even today.
Happy Hump Day to all. Sorry about missing a post last week, but I have a really good excuse (besides the book): #2 Son Cam’s graduation from the College of Wooster in Ohio. And now, we’re back. Except I spent the last two days planting over 50 cucumbers, chili peppers, and tomatoes. (Advil, anyone?) Now that those are in the ground, I’m back at the book, fast and furious, as my June 1 deadline approaches rapidly from the east.
That means no fishing for me, but I hope you’re picking up the slack. We’re supposed to get dumped on Thursday, so that will no doubt jack up the rivers. Hopefully the waters will recede somewhat by the weekend. Connecticut needs the rain, and we’ll be grateful for the influx into the reservoirs.
While this has been a crappy, cool month so far, I have been thinking about caddisflies. The warmer days tend to really get them going. May is typically prime time for caddis on the Farmington, and when the book comes out, I hope you’ll pay particular attention to the section devoted to this highly underrated bug. If I were nymphing or swinging wets today, you can be sure I’d have at least one caddis pattern in the mix.
Must go write. And I’m really looking forward to finishing.
Who knows why the trout aren’t eating your Hendrickson fly? The Shadow Hatch knows. Shadow hatches are so named because they are concurrent with — and less glamorous than — the hatch you think the trout are eating. In the case of the Hendricksons, the shadow hatches are likely to be tan caddis and BWOs, although in early afternoon, the tan caddis are the likely culprits. This phenomenon manifested last week during my lone outing. I was fishing a team of three flies: Hare’s Lug and Plover (caddis) top dropper, with two Hendricksons below. Hendricksons were in the air and there were rising trout. Yet all of my fish came on the Hare’s Lug and Plover. This is the strongest argument for fishing a team of three: droppers are always the fastest way to find out what the fish want.
currentseams.com 