The last two weeks of April brought warmer water temps and good hatches of Hendricksons, Blue Wing Olives and Midges. Lately my 9 foot 4 weight Scott G2 has been getting a lot more use than my ten foot Scott “nymphing” rod. The soft action of the whole G2 rod series excels at short casts, turning over long leaders and protecting light tippets. The brown trout may not be rising, (if you hit a good hatch they will), but putting a fly through the good lies produces strikes with regularity. The most successful technique for me has been fishing shallow riffles/rough pockets using light Hendricksons sized 12-14 on 6X tippet. The Hendricksons have waned, but the fish seem to remember them, as raising one-two dozen fish in a single outing has been normal the past week. Anglers dead drifting soft hackles and nymphs under indicators are getting strikes and swinging flies during a hatch is also effective. A report from Martin, a shop regular, shares his experience from the 30th.
Theaux,
Yesterday (Thursday) was outstanding. Best day I have ever had on the GP. As you suggested, I went up above Masemore in the riffles around the bend. I started around 2:30. It was overcast and about 60 F. A few fish were rising. I tried some sulfur dries and emergers for an hour with no success. I then switched to a Hendrickson/Sulfur Cripple soft hackle that I learned from Dave Smith in the tying class a few months ago at the shop. It was deadly. Five fish in the next 30 minutes and a few more that I lost. I rested that stretch for awhile and then caught another three, losing some more. What a great day to reintroduce Glenn’s quad.
The river temp really spiked with the 90 degree air temps over last weekend. On Tuesday the water temp was 64 degrees at Falls Rd and 69 F at Glencoe Rd but by Wednesday the water @ Falls Rd dropped to 58 degrees. The warmer water has the Sulphurs hatching early, I saw the first one on the 23rd, and a dozen on the 29th. More reports of Caddis and Sulphurs are coming in each day, it may still be early, but fishing after 6 p.m. is usually never a bad thing. While fishing in the middle of an overcast day on Wednesday the 29th I landed fifteen Gunpowder Browns, bringing up many more on dries, and filmed a sulphur and another tiny olive spinner the trout were sipping in the flatwater. The next two months should be some of the most exciting fishing of the year.