On the doorstep of change!

We are a fortunate bunch out here in New York. At least that's how I look at it! Not only have we enjoyed an amazing spring tributary season (that isn't quite done yet,) we are on the verge of yet another wonderful part of fly fishing - Our first major hatch of the year, and casting dries to rising fish!

In fact this week I was able to escape to an inland trout stream to see first hand how things of a buggy nature are progressing. And I was pleasantly surprised. The water was high, but not high enough to discourage a few very eager fish that wanted to suck in the small BWO's that were coming off. The hatch was sporadic at best and so were the rising fish, but at least I saw fish taking off the top, and that was something I hadn't seen since last fall!

I took stream samples from two different locations and found plenty of bug life. Scuds, BWO nymphs, caddis larvae, and even a few golden stones filled my net. But they were out numbered at least 5 to 1 by another nymph - the Hendrickson. And they were everywhere!! It won't be long now. Maybe a week or so, and thousands of dark gray wings will be floating downstream to pods of hungry trout that have waited all winter for this one event.

I did end up fishing the stream for an hour or so. And I did catch a few fish on streamers. But after seeing those few fish rise, I must admit that I am ready to cast something a bit lighter!

As for the condition of our tributaries - They are doing just fine! And are continuing to fish well. In fact we are now seeing mostly steelhead, with almost no drop back brown trout to speak of. Both fresh run steelhead and drop backs are being caught, and most of the fish have been taken on streamers as of late. But like I said before..."we are on the doorstep of change"...and this amazing spring tributary season that we have enjoyed so much, is almost done. But I'm still smiling, so I guess that's a good thing...right?