Wednesday, April 18, 2012

A great beginning!!!!


I have been a bit derelict in my blogging as of late. So I must start again, trying to catch up, if that is at all possible.

My spring steelhead season was very short. Other commitments and bad timing left me reading other fly anglers good reports and viewing photos, instead of taking part in the action myself. And to be honest I felt a bit left out. But then the first mayflies started to show up, trout began to rise, and I began to feel much better. Which is a huge improvement over last year when fishing conditions were a bit reversed. Last springs wet rainy cold weather prevented me from getting into trout on a dry until mid-summer. But the steelheading was fantastic!

So I sat and waited for my opportunity. It came. I fished with dry flies, and I caught fish! Lots of fish. And even though I have yet to fish a full blown hatch, I have witnessed enough action on top to make last year a distant memory. In short....the dry fly fishing has been great!

The Hendricksons are now on, with BWO's and caddis to come. My best pattern so far has been a snowshoe winged hendrickson pattern in a size #14, with a parachute pattern a close second. These patterns have been absolutely perfect for this early hatch when the trout line up in the slower water below a slight riffled section to take emergers, cripples, and duns. In fact it has been a whole lot of fun to take some of the bigger fish right off the bank!

And so the yearly cycle of hatches moves forward, one after the other, until the cold sets in and we are forced to turn our attention to the big fish from the lake once again. But not until this angler makes up for last year.

So far we are off to an excellent start!!!