Saturday, March 30, 2013

Hatch, Rise, Pump (Repeat.........) Into 70s!!

As title suggest, early season fishing is going super fine!! Of course between "Rise" and "Pump", there are "Perfect Fly Selection", "Perfect Angle of Presentation", "Perfect Hook Set", and most enjoyably "Bring Trout to Hands".
Then, well, I have visited DePuy's Spring Creek OVER 70 DAYS with Winter Pass. As of this typing, there are 15 more days left in the calender (April 14th is the last day). Let me see how many more days I will be at the creek.

Thursday was another nice spring day with NO WINDS. It could be because of that, somehow I didn't see many BWO. I counted two in the air and one on the water during the whole afternoon. However, midges were present and, OH BOY, midges and trout feeding on them offered me some techy situations. I could manage to get hooked with them with this Foam Emerger Type 1.

This is a pump result from the first or second trout. LOOK!! There are some BWO nymphs but they look translucent = being digested a while. Probably from the day before (I was at the River). Instead, midge pupae and adults look they have just been eaten. I was positive and confident that trout were feeding on midges on that afternoon.

Nicer Browny!!

I did bring in a nice rainbow too!! Right after my camera's self-timer mode was on, it slipped away.... I was looking at the escapee in probably 5-foot away......
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Friday, weather stayed nice but with some clouds and rain (not cold though). PERFECT BWO-ish Weather!! Hero fly was my own Winged Victory Nymph-BWO!!
I just learned how to embed YouTube videos quickly.


Winged V has been taking (or taken by) trout sipping or slicing emerging nymph below the surface. They tend to be larger among the group of a spot. Their rise form is typically "Dorsal-to-Tail". I aimed them, of course. The very first trout seemed just "from the River"!!
Nice 'Bow!! & Happy Lefty!
Hmmmmm, day seemed indeed BWO-ish!!
This was just another catch, apparently smaller.......

LOOK!! His content was mix of everything while nice 'Bow above contained ascending nymph dominantly!!

Toward the end of BWO hatch, I located another Dorsal Rise. After several unsuccessful casts, I figured out a "perfect angle of presentation". BINGO!!
Skinny but the largest Brown of the day!!
His pump confirmed my observation. He was sipping/slicing ascending nymphs (plus some midge pupae) just below the surface.

After BWO hatch was over, there were still rises at the same spot. Midges were still hatching and trout were not full yet in their bellies!! With another perfect angle of presentation, I caught a sipper with Foam E Type 1!!
LOOK again!! At the same spot, this trout was exclusively feeding on midges!!
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Today, Saturday, nice spring weather continued (with a little breeze). Midge and BWO hatches were SO-SO. I again started with midges. With the very first decent drift, I caught a little one. Although BWO weren't there yet, I was using a BWO dry as a pilot above tiny midge patterns. Suddenly I heard a gulp!! It was a pretty good size brown!! See how wide its tail is!!

This was the fly, Para Post Emerger...........apparently ruined.....

Finally, BWO started to hatch. Although hatch wasn't as strong as yesterday and rising trout were slightly less, I observed a couple of "Dorsal Rises" as described above. Well, Winged Victory Nymph was gladly taken!!

 Another nice brown!! Gotcha, you sipper!!
 What his content means: two duns and one nymph (right side) were taken a while back (getting translucent = somewhat digested). Rest of two nymphs were just taken this afternoon.
 I did catch a nice rainbow too in a same manner!! My camera captured a moment when trout slipped away from my hands and I was trying to re-capture (unsuccessful.......).

For some of readers who are interested in spawning runs, IT'S in FULL SWING!! Lots of large trout are anywhere along the creek!!
I again screwed up a self-timer pic, it captured trout's back!!
 And take a look at this..... Bead, Hare, & Copper tied with 2XL nymph hook was ruined by the one above during the fight.........
 This was another catch!!

If you want to experience great spring fishing & weather in Paradise Valley, now is the time!! Not to mention, daily rod-fee at creeks remains Winter Rate till April 14th. Don't miss it!!

3 comments:

  1. Hi Satoshi!

    I've been interested of entomology since I was a kid (and that was quite a while ago) and I'm a little dubious when it comes to the identification of the mayfly. To me (looking at your fine pictures) it seems more like if it is Large Dark Olive, LDO, (Baetis Rhodani) and not Blue Winged Olive, BWO (Ephemerella ignita) that you have hatching where you are fishing and pumping. There is an easy way to distinguish between the two. The LDO male has a paler color on the two last segments of the body and has only two tails, well the female also only has two tails but the BWO has three. Furthermore the LDO tails are greyish and the BWO tails have dark rings along the tails. I really enjoy your blog and that you use imitations of what the trout really eats. The names aren't of the insects is of no concern to the trout but I like to know exactly what I'm dealing with. So with a close look at a male dun it's easy to tell the two species apart. If you could take a nice photo of a male of the mayflies that are hatching I would be more than happy. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. WOW! Thank you for a technical comment.
      Around here we use BWO and Baetis almost all synonymous but I'd better study more myself. I try to take more pictures of them, ideally before they are eaten by trout.
      Happy Easter! (just got back from the river.....)

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  2. Thanks! Good luck fishing and taking photos.

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